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■ ■ : ■MANUAL -or' I 1''. 
RHODfMSLAND'SOCUri'Y 
OF -THE SONS ■ Ol'" ■ TilK 
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MANUAL 



RHODE ISLAND SOCIETY 



THE SONS OF THE 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

ORGANIZED FEBRUARY i, 1890 




THE REPUBLIC PRESS 
NEW YORK 



1892 






PRINTED BY AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS 

BY 

EDWARD FIELD, 
COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 



tSI5 



State of Rhode Island, &c., 

In General Assembly, 
January Session, A. D., 1891. 

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE RHODE ISLAND SO- 
CIETY OF THE SONS OF THE AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION. 

// !s enacted by the General Assembly as follo7Vs : 

Section i. W, Maxwell Greene, William W. Hoppin, 
William Goddard, Albert Gallatin Barton, E. Benjamin An- 
drews, Daniel B. Pond, and their associates and successors, 
are hereby made a corporation by the name of Rhode Island 
Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, for the pur- 
pose of cherishing and maintaining the Institutions of Ameri- 
can freedom, and perpetuating the spirit and memory of the 
deeds of the patriots who achieved American independence, 
with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties 
and liabilities, set forth in Chapter 152 of the Public Statutes, 
and in any acts in amendment thereof or in addition thereto. 

Sec. 2. Said corporation may take, hold, transmit and 
convey real and personal estate to an amount not exceeding 
twenty-five thousand dollars. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately. 



A true copy. 
Attest : 

GEORGE H. UTTER, 

Secretary of State. 




CONSTITUTION. 



Article I. 



Name. 



The name of this society shall be the Rhode Island 
Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. 

Article II. 

The purposes of the Society are patriotic and social; 

Objects to cherish and maintain among ourselves and our 

of the descendants and in the community, the institutions of 

ocie y. American freedom ; to perpetuate the spirit and 

memory of the deeds of the patriots who achieved 
American Independence, and who secured to us the blessings 
of Liberty ; to promote the fitting celebrations of anniversaries 
commemorating the events connected with the War of the 
Revolution ; to collect and preserve documents and relics re- 
lating to the War for Independence; to encourage the educa- 
tion of every child in reference to developing his power to use 
to the highest purpose and the fullest extent all the faculties 
with which he is endowed, thus, by rendering the individuals 
most strong and happy, give strength to our country ; and to 
promote social intercourse and fellowship among its members 
now and hereafter. 

Article III. 

Any person in good standing in the community 
EFigibility. shall be eligible for membership in the society, 

who is above the age of twenty-one years and 
who is descendant from an ancestor that assisted in establishing 
American Independence during the War of the American 
Revolution while acting in any of the following capacities: 



A military or naval officer. 
A soldier or a sailor. 

An official in the service of the United States or Colonies. 
An official in the service of any one of the thirteen original 
States or Colonies or in the State of Vermont. 

A recognized patriot who rendered material service. 
Provided : That such loyalty was continuous. 

Article IV. 

The officers of this society shall be a President,. 
Officers. Vice-President, a Secretary, Treasurer, Registrar, 
a Historian and a Poet. 

Article V. 

A meeting for the election of officers and transac- 
rieetings. tion of business shall be held annually in the city 

of Providence on the 29th day May, and a meet- 
ing for social purposes shall be held annually at such place and 
time as the Board of Managers ma)' determine. At each an- 
nual meeting there shall be elected, in addition to the officers 
provided for in Article IV, one Delegate at Large and one 
Delegate for each one hundred or fraction of one hundred, ex- 
ceeding fifty members, who together with such officers as are 
provided for by the Constitution of the National Society, shall 
represent this society in the National Society. 

Article VI. 

There shall be a Board of Managers whose duty 
Board of it shall be to conduct the affairs of this society. 

Managers. which board shall consist of the officers of this 

society, the delegates to the National Society, 
who shall be elected at the annual meetings. 

Article VII. 

The President and Vice-President shall not be eligible for a 
second re-election as their own successors. 



Article VIII. 

The Constitution may be amended, altered, or repealed, 
provided written resolutions to that effect are first presented 
to the Board of Managers and approved by a two-thirds vote 
of the members present at any regular meeting of the said Board, 
or at a special meeting called for that purpose, and provided 
said amendments are approved by a majority of the members 
present at any regular or special meeting of the society. 



BY LAWS. 

Section i . All applications for membership in this society 
shall be upon blank forms furnished by the society, and each 
application shall be accompanied by the membership fee, 
which shall be returned if the applicant is not accepted. 

Sec. 2. All applicants for membership shall be submitted 
to the Registrar for examination, and shall be reported by him 
to the Board of Managers, and when approved by said board 
shall be returned to the Registrar for preservation, and upon 
the payment of membership fee the applicant shall become a 
member of the society. 

Sec. 3. The membership fee shall be one dollar, and 
yearly dues two dollars. The payment of fifty dollars by a 
member at any one time shall constitute the person paying 
such sum a life member, and he shall thereafter be exempt 
from the payment of annual dues. Annual dues shall be paid 
to the Secretary on or before the 29th day of May in each 
year. The Secretary shall notify the members three months 
in arrears, and non-payment of dues in three months thereafter 
shall be regarded as terminating the membership of such per- 
son unless the members shall present a satisfactory excuse. 



8 

Sec. 4. The members of this society shall meet in the 
city of Providence on the 29th of May, 1890, and on the 29th 
day of May, 1891, and annually thereafter, for the election of 
of^cers and the transaction of the business of the society. In 
case said day shall fall on Sunday, the meeting shall be held 
on the following day. In the election of ofificers a majority of 
the ballots cast shall be necessary for a choice. 

Sec. 5. The society shall hold an annual meeting for the 
purpose of celebrating some event in Revolutionary history; 
and the time and place for holding such annual meeting to be 
determined by the board of managers, and said board shall 
also determine the manner of such celebration, which shall in- 
clude an oration, a poem and a dinner whenever practicable. 

Sec. 6. The regular meeting of the board of managers 
shall be held upon the third Tuesday of April and October in 
each year, and special meetings may be called by the President 
at any time, and shall be called upon the request of any three 
members of the board of managers. Three (3) members of the 
board of managers shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of 
said board. Five (5) members of the society shall constitute a 
quorum at a meeting of said society. 

Sec. 7. The President, or, in his absence, the Vice-Presi- 
dent, or, in their absence a chairman /r^ tctn., shall preside at 
all meetings of the society and of the board of managers, and 
shall have a casting vote. The presiding officer shall preserve 
order, and shall decide all questions of order, subject to appeal 
to the meeting. 

Sec. 8. The Secretary shall receive all money from the 
members, and shall pay it over to the Treasurer, taking his 
receipt for the same. He shall conduct the general correspond- 
ence of the society, shall notify members of their election and 
of such other matters as the society may direct. He shall 
have charge of the seal, and such records of the society as are 



9 

not herein given especially in charge of the other ofificers of 
the society ; together with the presiding officer he shall certify 
all acts and orders of the society. He shall, under the direc- 
tion of the or acting President, give notice of the time and 
place of all meetings of the society and of the board of man- 
agers, and shall attend the same. He shall keep accurate re- 
ports of the meetings of the society and of the board of 
managers, and shall give such notices of the votes, orders and 
proceedings of the society or board of managers as they shall 
direct. 

Sec. 9. The Treasurer shall receive all the money from 
the Secretary and give his receipt for the same ; which money 
he shall deposit in the name of the society and shall pay out 
only for the benefit of the society, in such sums as the society 
or the board of managers may direct, and upon the order of 
the Secretary, countersigned by the President. He shall keep 
a true account of his receipts and disbursements, and at each 
annual meeting shall make a full report to the society. The 
books of the Secretary and Treasurer shall be open to the in- 
spection of the President and the board of managers and to the 
auditing committee at all times. 

Sec. 10. The members of the board of managers shall be 
elected in the same manner and at the same time as is provided 
for the election of the officers. They shall judge of the quali- 
fications of applicants for membership and shall have control 
and management of the affairs of the society. They shall 
appoint an auditing committee. They may call special meet- 
ings at any time, and shall call a special meeting upon the 
written request of any five members of the society. They 
shall also have power to fill vacancies. 

Sec. II. The Registrar shall receive all applications and 
proofs of membership from the Secretary after they have been 
passed upon by the board of managers and shall make a record 
of same in a book of forms prepared for that purpose. He 



lO 

shall also have the custody of all the historical, geographical, 
genealogical papers, books, manuscripts and relics of which the 
society may become possessed. He shall receive twenty -five 
cents for recording each accepted application, and shall make a 
report in writing at each annual meeting. 

Sec. 12. These by-laws shall not be altered or amended 
unless such alterations or amendments shall have been pro- 
posed in writing at a previous meeting of the board of man- 
agers and entered upon the records, with the name of the 
member proposing the change, and adopted by a majority of 
the rnembers present at a regular meeting of the society or at 
a special meeting called for that purpose. 



-^ 



LIST OF OFFICERS. 



Officers for 1890. 
President, - - - E. Benjamin Andrews. 

Vice-President, - - - William T. Barton. 

Secretary, ... Theodore F. Tillinghast. 

Treasurer, ... . Olney Arnold, II. 

Registrar, - - - - Edward Field. 

Delegates to Convention of National Society Sons of the 

American Revolution: 

John Nicholas Brown, Alonzo Williams, 

And the President and Vice-President. 

Officers for 1890-1891. 
President, - - - John Nicholas Brown. 

Vice-President, - ... Alfred Stone. 

Secretary, - - - Theodore F. Tillinghast. 

Treasurer, - . . . Olney Arnold, II. 

Registrar, ... . Edward Field. 

Historian, .... William E. Foster. 

Poet, .... Rev. Frederick Denison. 

Delegates to Convention of National Society Sons of the 

American Revolution: 

Alonzo Williams, Thomas A. Jenckes, 

And the President and Vice-President. 

Officers for 1891-1892. 
President, .... Alfred Stone. 

Vice-President, - - John Carter Brown Woods. 

Secretary, .... Amasa M. Eaton. 

Treasurer, .... Olney Arnold, II. 

Registrar, - - . - - Edward Field. 

Historian, .... William E. Foster. 

Poet, - - . . Rev. Frederick Denison. 



^ -^z^ -w-*-/- <;Y"-t^'*--^'*T^-i 



C*-:iU 



12 

Delegates to Convention of National Society Sons of the 

American Revolution : 

Reuben A. Guild, John T. Blodgett, 

And the President and Vice-President. 

Officers for 1892-1893. 

President, ... John Carter Brown Woods. 

Vice-President, - - - Amasa M. Eaton. 

Secretary, - - - - R. Grenville Brown. 

Treasurer, .... Olnev Arnold, II. 

Registrar, .... Edward Field. 

Historian, ... - William E. Foster. 

Poet, . . _ - Rev. Frederick Denison. 

Delegates to Convention of the National Society of the 

Sons of the American Revolution: 

James F. Mallett, Charles W. Abbot, Jr., 

And the President and Vice-President. 

Board of Managers. 

The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Regis- 
trar, Historian, Poet and Delegates to the National Convention. 



(^ 



NAMES OF MEMBERS, 

TOGETHER WITH THE NAME OF THE ANCESTOR FROM 
WHOM MEMBERSHIP IN THE SOCIETY IS DE- 
RIVED, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF 
SUCH ancestor's SERVICE IN 
THE WAR FOR INDE- 
PENDENCE. 

Compiled by Edward Field ^ Registrar. 

[Names designated by * indicate charter members who have not filed their 
application for membership. Deceased members are designated by a f.] 

Abbot, Charles Wheaton, Jr., First Lieutenant United States Army, Fort 
Leavenworth, Kan. Great great grandson of Nathan Miller, of 
Warren, Deputy from Warren, 1772 to 1774 and 1780, 1782, 1783, 
1790; Commissary under General Hopkins, 1775; Commissary of 
Brigade, established 1776; Member of Committee to ascertain defi- 
ciencies in military quota, 1777; appointed by General Assembly to 
advance bounties, 1777; Colonel of Regiment of Militia in County of 
Bristol, 1777, 1778, 1779; Recruiting Officer, 1777-17S0; Member of 
Council of War, Bristol County, May, 1779; Brigadier General of 
Brigade in Bristol and Newport Counties, 1779, 1780, 1781, 17S2, 
1783, 1784; Delegate to Congress, 1786; Delegate to Constitutional 
Convention at Newport, 1790. 

Allen, Crawford, Providence. Great grandson of Isaac Senter, of London- 
derry, N. H., Surgeon in Arnold's Expedition to Canada, 1776. 
President of the Society of the Cincinnati. 

*Andre\vs, Elisha Benjamin, Providence. President Brown University. 

Anthony, Edwin P., Pharmacist, Providence. Great great grandson of Paris 
Gardiner, of South Kingston, R. I., Adjutant in Colonel Sands' 
Regiment, 1777; Captain Second Company South Kingston Division, 
State Militia, 1779, 1780. 

Arnold, George Carpenter, manufacturer. Providence. Great great great 
grandson of James Arnold, of Providence, First Lieutenant, 1776; 
Captain Lieutenant, 1778; Kent County Rhode Island Militia; mem- 
ber of Council of War; great great grandson of Robert Rhodes, of 
Pawtuxet ; Captain of Alarm Company in Warwick, R. I., 1779 ; 
Captain, Senior Class Artillery Company, First Battalion, Kent 
County, Lieut. Col. Thomas Tillinghast, 1780, 1781-1784; of Com- 



H 

mittee on Recruits for Warwick, 1777-1780; great great great 
grandson of James Rhodes, of Warwick; Deputy in General Assem- 
bly, 1760, 1766, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773 and 1777; Commander of 
250 men ordered to proceed to New Shoreham, 1775. 

Arnold, Olney, Banker, Pawtucket, R. I. Great grandson of Nathan Arnold, 
of Cumberland, R. I.; Captain of Militia, 1 770-1 778, at the Battle 
of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778. 

Arnold, Olney, II., Secretary American Screw Company, Providence. Great 
great grandson of Nathan Arnold, of Cumberland, R. I. ; Captain 
of Militia, 1 770-1 778, at the Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 
1778. 

Balch, Joseph, Bank Clerk, Providence. Great great grandson of Joseph 
Balch, Captain in Colonel Thomas Craft's Regiment in the Massa- 
chusetts Train of Artillery, June 27, 1776; of Third Company from 
Nov. I, 1776, to Feb. i, 1777, and Aug. i, 1776, to Sept. i, 1776; 
of Second Company from Feb. i, 1777, to May S, 1777; of First 
Company from May 9 to Aug. i, 1777, and Aug. i to Oct. i, 
1777; also in same regiment April 30 to December 30, 1777. 

Ballou, Charles Fales, Lawyer, Woonsocket, R. I. Great grandson of Benja- 
min Bosworth; Major in Continental Army, great grandson of 
Nathaniel Fales, of Bristol, R. I. ; Deputy from town of Bristol in 
General Assembly and Member of Committee of Safety. 

Barstow, George E., Manufacturer, Providence. Great grandson of Caleb 
Barstow, of Hanover, Mass., Lieutenant; great grandson of Daniel 
Eames, of Haverhill, Mass.; Captain of First Company of Haver- 
hill; great great grandson of Jeremiah Mumford, of Eastford, Conn., 
Colonel and Paymaster. 

*Bartlett, E. O., Providence. 

*Bartlett, John R., Providence. 

Barton, Albert Gallatin, Auctioneer, Providence. Grandson of William 
Barton, of Warren and Providence; Colonel of a Rhode Island 
Regiment and Captor of General Prescott on the Island of Rhode 
Island, July 9, 1777; participated in the operations in Rhode Island, 
and was wounded at Bristol, R. I.; Major General of the Militia of 
Rhode Island after the War. 

*BiNNEY, William, Jr., Providence. 

Blodgett, John Taggard, Counsellor at Law, Providence. Great grand- 
son of William Taggard of Hillsboro, N. H.; ensign and lieutenant 
Second New Hampshire Regiment, Colonel Hale, 1776-1783; 
wounded at Hubbardstown, Vt., 1777 ; great grand son of Bartholo- 
mew Trow of Charlestown, Mass. ; member of "Boston Tea Party" ; 
minute man at Lexington, Mass., April 19, 1775; lieutenantiin Cap- 
tain Josiah Harris' Company in Colonel Thomas Gardiner's Regiment 
at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775; Captain of 25th Massachusetts Regi- 
ment, Colonel William Bond, March, 1776, with General Wolf at 



15 

Siege of Quebec; great great grandson of Hezekiah Welch, of Boston, 
Mass. ; 2nd Lieutenant frigate Boston, Captain Samuel Tucker, 1778 ; 
great great grandson of Jonathan Blodgett of Hudson, N. H.,who 
responded to Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, in Captain Samuel 
Greely's Company; subsequently served as a private in a New Hamp- 
shire Regiment. 

BOWEN, Henry, Providence. Great grandson of Jabez Bowen of Providence; 
Justice of Superior Court, Rhode Island, 1777 ; Colonel P'irst Regi- 
ment of Providence, 1776, 1777, 1778 ; Deputy Governor of Rhode 
Island, 1778, 1779, 1780 ; member of Council of War, 1778 ; Dele- 
gate to Continential Congress, 1778. 

Bowen, William Manuel Peres, Assistant Clerk of the Court of Common 
Pleas, Providence. Great grandson of Nathan Bowen of Rehoboth, 
Mass. ; a private appointed July 27, 1780, discharged October 30, 
1780 ; in Captain John Perry's Company in Colonel Abial Mitchell's 
Regiment raised by act of the Great and General Court of the Massa- 
chussets Bay, passed June 2, 1 780, to reinforce the Continental 
Army. 

Brown, Daniel Russell, Merchant, Providence. Grandson of Elias Dart of 
Bolton, Conn. , who enlisted April 1,1782, in Captain Durkee's Com- 
pany; taken prisoner by the British and discharged April i, 1783. 

Brown, Robert Perkins, Merchant, Providence. Great grandson of Abial 
Brown of Providence ; with the Rhode Island troops at Bunker Hill, 
177^; third Sergeant of the Seventh Company, Captain David Dexter, 
in Colonel Christopher Lippitt's Regiment June 18, 1776; served 
through the war; was at Princeton and through the New Jersey 
campaign. 

Brown, R. Grenville, Providence. Great grandson or Nicholas Brown of Provi- 
dence ; who was among the first to take measures against the imposi- 
tion of unjust taxes and to protest against the unlawful acts of British 
officers; furnished munitions of war and assisted in raising recruits 
for the Continental Army; Member of Committee appointed by Con- 
gress to build vessels for the Continental Navy; Commissioner to ad- 
just accounts between Rhode Island and the United States. 

Brown, Will E., Expressman, East Greenwich, R. I. Great great grandson of 
Ebenezer Adams of Charlestown, R. I . ; with the party who captured 
Gen. Prescott, July 10, 1777; promated to the rank of Major; 
great great grandson of Benjamin Spencer of East Greenwich ; 
member of Kentish Guards and served with them during the war at 
the battle of Rhode Island, August 28 and 29, 1778. 

Brownell, Frederick R., Lawyer and Town Clerk, Little Compton, R. I. 
Grandson of Sylvester Brownell of Westport, Mass. ; in Colonel 
Prescott's command at Bunker Hill, 1775, and of General Sullivan's 
command at Long Island; great grandson of Lieutenant Jonathan 
Brownell, of Westport, Mass., who died from injuries received 



i6 

at Bunker Hill; great grandson of Thomas Church of Little 
Compton, R. I. ; Colonel commanding a Rhode Island regi. 
ment at the siege of Boston; Commissioner to exchange prisoners • 
Colonel of the Army of Observation, 1775. 

Brownell, Walter S., Assessor of Taxes, Johnston, R. I. Grandson of Sylves- 
ter Brownell of Westport, Mass. ; in Colonel Prescott's command at 
Bunker Hill, 1775, and of General Sullivan's command at Long 
Island; great grandson of Lieutenant Jonathan Brownell, of West- 
port, Mass., who died from injuries received at Bunker Hill; great 
grandson of Thomas Church, of Little Compton, R. L; Colonel 
commanding a Rhode Island regiment at the siege of Boston; Com- 
missioner to exchange prisoners; Colonel of the Army of Obser- 
vation, 1775. 

*Brownell, Stephen, Providence. 

Cady, Alfred E., Merchant, Providence. Great grandson of John Henshaw 
of Newport, R. I. ; Second Lieutenant in Captain John Warner's 
Company, Colonel Robert Elliott's Regiment of Artillery, March 16, 
1779; great grandson of Jonathan Cady of Putnam, Conn.; Lieuten- 
ant in Captain Cady's Company, Colonel Williams's Regiment of the 
Connecticut Continental Line, May 18, 1774; Captain of a Company 
in Colonel Conant's Regiment of the Connecticut Continental Line 
May 25, 1779. 

Cady, Louis E., Salesman. Great grandson of John Henshaw of Newport, R. I.; 
second Lieutenant in Captain John Warner's Qpmpany, Colonel 
Robert Elliott's Regiment of Artillery in Rhode Island, March 16, 
1779; great grandson of Jonathan Cady of Putnam, Conn. ; Lieuten. 
ant in Captain Cady's Company, Colonel Williams's Regiment of the 
Connecticut Continental Line, May 18, 1774 ; Captain in Colonel 
Conant's Regiment Connecticut Continential Line, May 25, 1779. 

*Champlin. William A. 

*Church, George L. 

*Church, Nathaniel B. 

Cole, Joseph Carpenter Wheaton, Providence. Great grandson of Joseph 
Wheaton, of Rehoboth, Mass.; minute man in Captain John Perry's 
Company, April, 1775; private in Captain John Perry's Company, 
Colonel Timothy Walker's Regiment; held on prison ship at New 
York by the British; great grandson of Richard Cole, of Foster, R. 
I.; Ensign in Fourth Company of Scituate, R. I., 1781; Ensign of 
Second Company of Foster, R. I., 1784; great grandson of James 
Sabin, of Providence, at whose house the burning of the Gaspee, June 
10, 1772, was planned, and from which the expedition started; great 
great grandson of Caleb Arnold, the "Patriot" of Glocester, R. I. 
Deputy to General Assembly, May, 1773 and May, 1778; of Com- 
mittee to receive recruits; of Committee on Bounties, 1778; on War 
Committee, 1780. 



17 

Cranston, William A., Assistant Treasurer American Screw Company, 
Providence. Great grandson of Benjamin Cranston, of Warren, 
R. I. ; Quartermaster on the galley Spitfire, Captain Joseph Cran- 
dall; private in the army, served a period of three years in both 
branches of the service. 

*Cross, Samuel H. 

Davis, Nathaniel French, Teacher, Providence. Oreat grandson of John 
Maxfield, of Salisbury, Mass. ; was at Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga and 
Valley Forge; served six and one-half years in Continental Army. 

Denison, Frederick, Clergyman. Grandson of Isaac Denison, of Stonington, 
Conn., who served from 1775-1781 as a Member of Committee of 
Correspondence and Public Safety, and was an active patriot; also 
grandson of Benadam Gallup, of Groton, Conn. ; Commander of a 
Regiment of Connecticut Militia. 

Dennis, Arthur W., Cotton Broker, Providence. Great grandson of Peter 
Rhodes, of Warwick; officer on board Pigot galley, 1778; private in 
Pawtuxet Rangers, September 28, 1781. 

*De Wolf, J. Halsey. 

Eaton, Amasa Mason, Lawyer, Providence. Great grandson of John Brown, 
of Providence; leader of party who destroyed H. B. M. ship 
Gaspee, June 10, 1772; furnished munitions of war to the Continental 
Army, and assisted in raising recruits for the same; taken prisoner in 
irons to Boston for participation in the "Gaspee Affair," 1775; 
Member of General Assembly during the Revolutionary War; Dele- 
gate to Continental Congress, 1784, 1785; Member of Congress, 
1799. 

fELDREDGE, James H., Physician, East Greenwich, R. I. Grandson of James 
Eldredge, of Brooklyn, Conn. ; Captain in Continental Army. 

Farnsworth, Claude J., Attorney at Law, Pawtucket, R. I. Great grand- 
son of Amos Farnsworth of Groton, Mass., in Captain Henry Far- 
well's Company of Minutemen of Groton, April 19, 1775; Corporal 
in Colonel Prescott's Regiment at Battle of Bunker Hill, where he 
was wounded; Ensign in Colonel Reed's Regiment at Ticonderoga. 
July, 1776; First Lieutenant in Captain William Swan's Company of 
Matrosses in Colonel Reed's Regiment serving in New Jersey; Cap- 
tain of a Company of Matrosses in the Brigade in the County of 
Middlesex; commissioned Major, July, 1794. 

Field, Edward, Clerk of the Municipal Court and Record Commissioner, 
Providence. Great grandson of Darius Thurber of Providence; en- 
listed as a fifer January 17, 1777, in Captain William Tew's Com- 
pany in Colonel Israel Angell's Regiment (Second Rhode Island); in 
1778, 1779, 1780, in the same company as a private; in 1 78 1, of Colone 
Christopher Greene's and Colonel Jeremiah Olney's Regiment, served 
through the war from date of enlistment, and participated in the 
Battles of Red Bank, October, 1777; wounded at Monmouth, June 



i8 

28, 1778; at Valley Forge and West Point; at Springfield June 23, 
1780, and Yorktown at the surrender, October 19, 1781; great great 
great grandson of John Field of Providence; member of the watch 
ordered by the town of Providence, April 26, 1775. 

Foster, William Eaton, Librarian Public Library, Providence. Great grand- 
son of Moses Foster, Sr., of Ipswich, Mass., and Milford, N. H.; 
private in Captain Abraham How's Massachusett's Company on 
occasion of Lexington Alarm, April 19-20, 1775; in General Sulli- 
van's Army on Rhode Island, January 10, 1778, to January i, 
1779; great grandson of Ithamar Eaton of Weare, N. H.; private 
in Captain John Hale's Company, in Lieutenant-Colonel Henry 
Gerrish's Regiment, N. H. Vol., in General Gates's Saratoga Cam- 
paign, September 29 to October 25, 1777; Ensign in Captain Aaron 
Quimby's Company, in Colonel Moses Kelly's Regiment, N. H. 
Vol., in General Sullivan's Army on Rhode Island, August 6 to 
August 27, 1778; Lieutenant, 1780; Major of Second Battalion, New 
Hampshire Militia, 1792; Colonel New Hampshire Militia, 1S20. 

^Gammell, William. 

*GoDDARD, Robert H. I. 

*GODDARD, William. 

Green, Clarence H., Student, North Providence. Great great grandson of Stephen 
Olney of North Providence; private in North Providence Rangers, 
1774; Ensign in Captain John Angel's Company of Colonel Daniel 
Hitchcock's Regiment, ■ 1775; First Lieutenant. 1776; Captain in 
Colonel Israel Angell's Regiment, 1777; participated in Battles of 
Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains, Monmouth, Springfield, 
Red Bank and Yorktown; chosen to lead the attacking column at 
Yorktown. 

Green, Frederick Albert, Student, North Providence. Great great grandson 
of Stephen Olney of North Providence; private in North Providence 
Rangers, 1774; Ensign in Captain John Angell's Company of Col- 
onel Daniel Hitchcock's Regiment, 1775; First Lieutenant, 1776; 
Captain in Colonel Israel Angell's Regiment, 1777; participated in 
Battles of Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains, Monmouth, 
Springfield, Red Bank and Yorktown; chosen to lead the attacking 
column at Yorktown. 

Greene, William Maxwell, Manufacturer, Warwick. Grandson of Chris- 
topher Greene of Potowomut, Warwick; Member of Committee 
of Safety; Volunteer in Sullivan's Expedition on Rhode Island; 
Member of State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the 
United States; great grandson of Samuel Ward of Westerly, and 
Newport; delegate to General Congress of the Colonies, 1774, 
and Continental Congress May 10, 1775; Governor of Rhode 
Island, 1762-63, 1 765-1 767; grandson of Wanton Casey, member 
during the Revolutionary War of the Kentish Guards of East 



19 

Greenwich; great grandson of Major Nathan Goodale, who w^as an 
officer from Massachusetts in the Army of the Revolution. 

Guild, Reuben Aldridge, Librarian Brown University, Providence. Great 
grandson of Aaron Guild of Dedham, Mass; Ensign in Captain 
Fale's Company of Colonel Nichol's Regiment of Foot; also Captain 
in same Company; Member of Committee of Safety, 1774; Muster 
Master, 1775; Member of Committee to make provision for the 
families of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, 1779; of Com- 
mittee of Correspondence and Safety, 1 780-1 781. 

Hale, Wendell Phillips, Merchant, Providence. Great grandson of Thomas 
Johnson of Newbury, Vermont ; Captain of Volunteers from New- 
bury, 1777 ; Colonel and Aid to General Lincoln at Ticonderoga ; 
captured by the British and held as a prisoner in Canada, 1781, 
paroled October 5, 17S1. 

Harrison, George A., Clerk. Great grandson of Robert Harrison, Private 
in Colonel Greene's and Colonel Olney's Rhode Island Regiment, 
1780; at the surrender at Yorktown. 

Hart, George Thomas, Clerk, Providence. Great grandson of Benjamin 
Rhodes, of Pawtuxet, Warwick; enlisted in the Spring of 1778, as 
seaman on board guard ship " Pigot Galley," Captain Jeremiah 
Clarke, during General Sullivan's campaign on Rhode Island ; pri- 
vate in Pawtuxet Rangers, Captain Benjamin Arnold, 1780; great 
great grandson of Peter Rhodes, officer on board " Pigot Gal- 
ley," 1778. 

Hasbrouck, Sayer, Physician, Providence. Great grandson of Elias Has- 
brouck, of Kingston, Ulster County, New York, Captain of the 
Ninth Company of the Third Regiment of New York; Colonel 
James Clinton, 1775, with General Montgomery at Quebec. 

*Hall. J. Milton. 

Hawkins, Amos M . , Manufacturer, Providence. Great great grandson of Esek 
Hopkins, of North Providence, Commander-in-Chief of the United 
States Navy, December 22, 1775. 

Hopkins, Charles W., Clerk, Providence. Great great grandson of Samuel 
Hopkins, Jr., of West Greenwich; Committee to make a list of persons 
in West Greenwich able to bear arms, March, 1777; Committee from 
same town to procure blankets for soldiers, April, 1777; appointed 
Captain of First Company of Militia of same town May, 1779, and 
June, 1780; member of Committee to receive recruits for said town, 
July, 1780; great grandson of Jonathan Lillibridge, of Exeter, En- 
sign of Third Company of Militia of the town of Exeter, June, 1778; 

*H0PPIN, Frederick S. 

■j-HoppiN, William W. 

Humphrey, George, Merchant, Providence. Grandson of William Humphrey, 
of Swansey and Rehoboth, Mass. ; Lieutenant in Arnold's Expe- 
dition to Canada, 1775, where he was taken prisoner and paroled 



20 

August II, 1776; Captain in Colonel Israel Angell's Regiment, 1780; 
commissioned Major by General Washington; participated in battles 
of Springfield and Yorktown ; member of the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati. 

*Jenckes, Thomas A. 

JOSLIN, Henry Van Amburgh, Secretary Union Rail Road Company, Provi- 
dence. Great great grandson of Israel Angell, of North Providence; 
Colonel of the Second Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental 
Line. 

Kendrick, John E., Manufacturer, Providence. Great grandson of Oliver 
Kendrick, of Dedham, Mass., who served in Captain Ebenezer Bat- 
tle's Company of Dedham, fourth parish, on the occasion ot the "Lex- 
ington Alarm," April, 1775; also. Sergeant in Captain Wallbridge's 
Company in Colonel Reed's Regiment of the Massachusetts Conti- 
nental Line, December i, 1775; great grandson of Ananias Cooke, 
of Smithfield; private in Captain Amos Whipple's Company in 
Colonel John Matthewson's Regiment, Second Division, August and 
September, 1778. 

LiPPiTT, Christopher, Manufacturer, Providence. Grandson of Christopher 
Lippitt, of Cranston; Lieutenant-Colonel of a Regiment of Minute- 
men in Rhode Island; Colonel of a regiment, 1776; breveted Briga 
dier-General at Morristown by General Washington; participated in 
battles of Princeton, White Plains and Trenton. 

*LlPPiTT, Peleg W. 

*LlTTLEFiELD, George A. 

Mallett, James Fenner, Farmer, Milo, 111. Great grandson of Arthur Fen- 
ner, Jr., Member of the General Assembly which repealed the Act 
of Allegiance to the English Government, 1776. 

Martin, Jacob Sterry, Insurance Agent, Providence. Great grandson of 
Luther Martin of Barrington; Enlisting Officer from Barrington June, 
1775; Ensign of Captain Thomas Allen's Company of Artillery, 
1776; great great grandson of Nathaniel Martin of Barrington, 
Colonel of First Regiment of Rhode Island, October, 1776; Deputy 
from Barrington, 1 772-1 774; Member of Committee of Safety, 1776; 
appointed to advance bounties for the town of Barrington. 

Mason, Orray T., Manufacturer, Providence. Great grandson of Pardon 
Mason of Providence, private in Captain Daniel Brown's Company, 
Massachusetts Continental Line, August 14, 1777, and September 5, 
1777; in Captain Ebenezer Newell's Company, in Colonel Symond's 
Regiment, July 9, 1777; participated in the Battle of Bennington, 
August 16, 1777. 

*MooRE, David. 

Morris, Edward D., Providence. Great grandson of Ephraim Emerson of Re- 
hoboth, Mass., private in Captain John Fuller's Company, Colonel 
Bradford's Fourteenth Massachusetts Regiment, June 5, 1780; at 



21 

Springfield, N. J,, and West Point, N. Y., in Simeon Cole's Com- 
• pany. Colonel Dean's Regiment, Massachusetts Continental Line, 
March 6, 1781; re-enlisted April 18, 17S1, and served until surrender 
at Yorktown. 

"*MUNROE, W. H. 

Newell, Timothy, Physician, Providence. Son of Stephen Newell, of Stur- 
bridge, Mass. ; Sergeant and Lieutenant in Captain Abel Mason's 
Company at Burgoyne's surrender, Saratoga, October 17, 1777. 

Nightingale, George Corlis, Jr., Manufacturer, Providence. Great grand- 
son of Joseph Nightingale, of Pomfret, Conn., and Providence; 
complained to Governor Wanton regarding depredations made by the 
British in Narragansett Bay, March, 1772; Captain of Independent 
Company of Cadets, August, 1775-March, 1776; Member of Com- 
mittee to build vessels of war, December 14, 1775; chosen Major- 
General of Militia of Rhode Island, December, 1776; Captain of 
Senior Class Company, Providence, July 3, 1781; Member of Gen- 
eral Assembly that ratified Constitution of United States, 1790; great 
great grandson of George Corlis, Member of the Committee to see 
that the associations entered into by the Continental Congress be 
strictly adhered to by all persons within this (Providence) town; great 
great grandson of William Greene, for which see William Greene 
Nightingale. 

Nightingale, William Greene, Manufacturer, Providence. Great great grand- 
son of William Greene, of Warwick, Member of Committee for 
measures of safety, October, 1775; Member of Legislature repealing 
act of allegiance to Great Britain, May, 1776; First Associate Justice 
of Superior Court, August, 1776; Chief Justice, May, 1777; Mem- 
ber of Council of War, December 10, 1776; Commissioner to meet 
commissioners from the other colonies, December, 1777; Governor 
of Rhode Island, May, 1778-17S6; Member of Electoral College that 
elected George Washington President of the United States, October, 
1792; great grandson of Joseph Nightingale and great great grand- 
son of George Corlis, for which see George Corlis Nightingale, Jr. 

Peck, Allen Millard, Accountant, Providence. Great grandson of Ambrose 
Peck, of Swansey, Mass. ; Captain of a company in First Regiment 
of Militia in the County of Bristol, Mass., commanded by Colonel 
Shubael Peck, July i, 1781. 

Peck, James G., Postmaster and Bookkeeper, East Providence. Great grand- 
son of Samuel Peck, of Milford, Conn. ; Captain of Tenth Company, 
Seventh Regiment, May i, 1775; Captain Third Company, Fifth 
Battalion, in Wadsworth's Brigade, Colonel Douglass, 1776; at Bat- 
tle of White Plains, October 28, 1775; Captain in Second Regiment 
Connecticut Militia, 1777; Captain in Volunteer Company in 1779; 
at New Haven affair, July 5, 1779. 

Pond, Daniel B., Lawyer, Mayor, Senator, Woonsocket, Great grandson of 
Eli Pond, of Franklin, Mass., drummer in Captain John Boyd's 



22 

Company of Minute men, April 19, 1775; Sergeant in Captain Josiah 
Fuller's Company of Colonel Wheelock's Regiment, December S, 
1776; Lieutenant in Captain Amos Ellis's Company in Colonel Ben- 
jamin Hawes' Regiment September 25 to October 31, 1777; Lieu- 
tanant in a Company commanded by Lieutenant Hezekiah Ware 
from June 20 to July 14, 1778. 

Porter, Henry Perry, Clerk, Providence. Great grandson of Benjamin Por- 
ter of Assonet Village, Freetown, Mass.; served as a militia man 
from 1756 (French and Indian War) until 1792, when he was com- 
missioned Captain of the First Company of Foot of Freetown, Mass. 

*PoTTER, Isaac M. 

Potter, Dexter Burton, Counsellor-at-Law, Providence. Great grandson of 
John Potter, of Scituate ; served under Colonel Joseph Knight, 
guarding the shore of Rhode Island; commissioned Captain by Gov- 
ernor William Greene July 29, 1780 and June 4, 1781. 

Rhodes, Christopher, Real Estate Agent, Providence. Great grandson of 
Robert Rhodes, of Warwick, R. I.; recruiting officer 1777; Cap- 
tain of Alarm Company in Warwick, 17 78; participated in the Lex- 
ington fight, April 19, 1775, and Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 
1778; Captain Senior Class Company, 1780; Member of Committee 
on Recruits; Captain First Battalion, Artillery Company, Senior 
Class, 1 781. 

Rhodes, Edward Smith, City Messenger, Providence. Grandson of Benja- 
min Rhodes, of Pawtuxet, Warwick; enlisted as seaman on board 
guardship, " Pigot Galley," in the spring of 1778; served during 
General Sullivan's campaign on Rhode Island; private in Pawtuxet 
Rangers, Captain Benjamin Arnold, 1780; great grandson of Peter 
Rhodes, officer on " Pigot Galley," 1778. 

*Rhodes, William B. 

*ROELKER, William G. 

Smith, Franklin A., Jr., Treasurer and Secretary, Providence. Great grand- 
son of Benjamin Rhodes of Pawtuxet, Warwick; enlisted in the 
Spring of 1778 as seaman on board guardship " Pigot Galley," Cap- 
tain Jeremiah Clarke, during General Sullivan's Campaign on Rhode 
Island; private in Pawtuxet Rangers, Captain Benjamin Arnold, 
1780; great great grandson of Peter Rhodes officer on board 
"Pigot Galley," 1778. 

*SouTHWiCK, Isaac H. 
*Southwick, Isaac H., Jr. 

Stone, Alfred, Architect, Providence. Great grandson of Thomas Tread- 
well of Ipswich, Mass.; Sergeant in Captain Samuel Reed's Com- 
pany of minute men. Colonel Prescott's Regiment, April, 1775; also 
Sergeant in Captain Samuel Gilbert's Company, Colonel Prescott's 
Regiment, 1775; Sergeant in Captain John Nutting's Company in 
Colonel William Mcintosh's Regiment, General Level's Brigade, in 



23 

Rhode Island, 1778; great grandson of Jonathan Stone; Sergeant in 
Captain Henry Farvvell's Company minute men, in Colonel William 
Prescott's Regiment, April 19, 1775; Corporal in Captain Aaron 
Jewitt's Company, Colonel Samuel Bullard's Regiment, Massachusetts 

Militia, 1777; grandson of Solomon Stone of , private in Captain 

Bowker's Company, Colonel Webb's Regiment, Massachusetts Militia, 
raised to reinforce the Continental Army, 1781. 

Swinburne, William J., Merchant, Newport. Grandson of William Tew 
of Newport; Captain of a Company in the Second Rhode Island 
Regiment, 1775; bearer of money to pay Rhode Island troops at 
Valley Forge; member of the Society of the Cincinnati. 

*Taft, Royal C. 

TiLLlNGHAST, Theodore F., Attorney-at-Law, Providence. Great great 
great grandson of Stephen Hopkins of Providence; Governor of 
Rhode Island, Chief Justice, Delegate to Congress, and Member of 
Council of War; one of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

TiLLlNGHAST, WiUard Wheaton, Inter-State Commerce Commission, Wash- 
ington, D. C. Great great grandson of Charles Tillinghast of Quid- 
nesset Neck; appointed by General Assembly; Enlisting Officer for 
Continental Army; died on Block Island from injuries received at 
the hands of a Tory mob. 

*TowER, James H. 

ViALL, William Angell. Machinist, Providence. Great grandson of Nathaniel 
Viall of Seakonk, Mass. ; served as a private at Portsmouth. 

*VlNCENT, Walter B. 

Watson, S. T., Physician, Nayatt Point. Great grandson of Asa Waterman 
of Norwich, Conn. ; Captain and Issuing Commissary of Rhode 
Island, and Deputy Commissary General; commissioned by Gover- 
nor Trumbull of Connecticut to receive and deliver provisions for 
Connecticut troops in Rhode Island, December 14, 1776, 

Williams, Alfred M., Journalist, Providence. Great grandson of James 
Williams of Taunton, Mass. ; Captain in a Company of Massachu- 
setts Infantry, and promoted successively from Brigadier or 
Corporal. 

*WlLLiAMS, Alonzo. 

Williams, James W., Lawyer, Providence. Great great grandson of Timothy 
Wilmarth of Chepachet, R. I.; Captain of Company of Infantry in 
Gloucester; at Battle of Rhode Island, and accompanied General 
Sullivan's expedition to New York; great grandson of Squire Wil- 
liams of Scituate; guard at the Beacon erected on Chopmist Hill, 
Scituate, for the purpose of alarming the country at the approach of 
the enemy. 

*WooDBURY, Augustus. 



24 

Woods, John Carter Brown, Attorney at Law, Providence. Great great 
grandson of John Brown of Providence, who was among the first to 
resist the imposition of unjust taxes, and to proteat against the un- 
lawful acts of British officers; leader of the party who destroyed 
H. B. M. Ship Gaspee, June lo, 1772; furnished munitions of war 
to the Continental Army and assisted in raising recruits for the same; 
Member of Committee appointed by Congress to build vessels for 
Continental Navy; Member of General Assembly during the Revo- 
lutionary War, and of the General Assembly that passed the act re- 
nouncing allegiance to the British Crown, May 4, 1776; Delegate to 
Continental Congress and Member of Congress; he was taken 
prisoner in irons to Boston for participation in the Gaspee affair; 
great great grandson of Nicholas Brown of Providence, who was 
among the first to take measures against the imposition of unjust 
taxes and to protest against the unlawful acts of British officers; 
furnished munitions of war and assisted in raising recruits for the 
Continental Army ; Member of Committee appointed by Congress to 
build vessels for the Continental Navy; Commissioner to adjust 
accounts between Rhode Island and the United States. 



^ 



PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNIVERSARY DINNER 

IN COMMExMORATION OF THE SAILING OF THE FIRST AMERI- 
CAN FLEET UNDER COMMODORE ESEK HOPKINS, OF 
RHODE ISLAND, FEBRUARY 1 7, 1 776. 

The first anniversary dinner of the Rhode Island Society 
of the Sons of the American Revolution was held on the even- 
ing of February 17, 1891, at the parlors of L. A. Tillinghast, 
Westminster Street, Providence, the date being the one hun- 
dred and fifteeenth anniversary of the sailing of the first 
American fleet of eight vessels from Delaware Bay, February 
17, 1776, under the command of Commodore Esek Hopkins, 
of Rhode Island. 

The members and guests, numbering about forty, sat down 
to dinner at 8 o'clock, and enjoyed the following menu pro- 
vided by Caterer Tillinghast : 

MENU: 
Oysters on shell 
a la Gaspee 
Mongol soup 
Salmon and peas 
a la Gen. Greene 
Roast Duck 
a la Commodore Hopkins 
Maraschino Punch 

Salad 

Rolls Olives 

Ices 

Fancy cakes Apollinaris 

Coffee Cigars 

Punch a la 1776. 

After the dinner had been disposed of and cigars lighted, 
Vice-President STONE, after a few explanatory remarks on the 
significance of the event, introduced Mr. Luther L. Tarbell, 



26 

Registrar-General of the National Society of the Sons of the 
American Revolution, and a son of a Revolutionary soldier, 
who made an address of much interest, in which he explained 
the history and work of the Society. He was followed by 
Rev. Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, President of Brown Univer- 
sity, who spoke at some length on the service of the Revolu- 
tionary soldier. The historical address was delivered by Wil- 
liam E. Foster, Esq., Historian of the Society, who spoke as 
follows : 

Mr. Presidc7it and Gentlemen of the Society: 

He who is commanded by your august body to speak on topics 
connected with Rhode Island history is not wholly to be envied, 
for he finds himself embarrassed by the wealth of the subject. 
"Infinite riches in a little room" is, indeed, a designation true 
in few other connections so emphatically as here in Rhode Is- 
land ; for the extent, and richness, and significance of its his- 
torical materials are out of all proportion to its somewhat 
familiar limitations of area. A writer of' our day who was at 
once a recognized authority on the political institutions of an- 
tiquity, and a close student of American development, has 
acutely remarked that the "diversity of character and interest 
in [this] smallest of the colonies is another illustration of the 
truth taught by Greek and Italian history, that it is not always 
the large states that afford the most instructive data for politi- 
cal history." Rhode Island history is instructive — that of few 
communities more so — but it has also a quality given to but few 
historical topics in any intensified degree, namely, the quality 
of brilliant and almost unflagging interest. Here again its 
neatness of size is a help rather than a hindrance. It is like a 
gem, the brilliancy of whose flashing light bears no relation to 
its size ; or, better — for the lines of connection between history 
and literature are innumerable — it is like those epigrammatic 
dispatches with which Rhode Island naval heroes have from 
time to time lighted up the dull average of the historic page. I 
am not now referring so much to the well-known instance of 



27 

Commodore Perry at Lake Erie, which every American school- 
boy knows by heart, "We have met the enemy, and they are 
ours," as to that of a much earher Commodore, Abraham 
Whipple, in Narragansett Bay, who, in 1775, when Sir James 
Wallace, the British admiral, thus wrote him, "You, Abraham 
Whipple, on the loth June, 1772, burned His Majesty's ves- 
sel, the Gaspce, and I will hang you at the yard-arm," sent back 
this reply: "To Sir James Wallace, — Sir, Always catch a man 
before you hang him." 

Since the year 1775, the naval annals of our country have 
supplied many a brilliant page to American history, and to this 
brilliancy Rhode Island has more than once contributed, not 
only in the persons of Whipple and Hopkins in the first war 
with Great Britain, and of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 
just mentioned, in the second war with Great Britain, but of 
his almost equally distinguished brother. Commodore Matthew 
Calbraith Perry, in opening the far East to American com- 
merce, forty years ago, and in our own day, in Commander 
Silas Casey of the Wissahickon, winning distinction in action, 
and Commander John R. Bartlett of the Blake, winning almost 
equal distinction in scientific achievements, as well as in the 
late war. 

But it is the signal distinction of Rhode Island, that the 
beginnings of American naval history are here, — intimately 
associated with our bay and our islands, intimately interwoven 
with the Rhode Island history of one hundred and fifteen years 
ago. 

As later speakers will touch more fully on the significance 
of some of these historic features, I will here place in the 
hands of the Registrar, for deposit in our archives, the detailed 
annals* relating to that period, and will pass at once to the 
particular subject on which I have agreed to speak this even- 
ing, namely, the question whether the patriotic spirit is trans- 
mitted from one generation to another. 



* These are printed as an "Appendix," later in this volume. 



That history everywhere has to take account of transmitted 
tendencies is a proposition requiring no argument to convince 
us of it; yet, had we need of such an argument, where could 
we find a stronger one than in the signally distinguished con- 
nection of Rhode Island with the beginnings of our naval his- 
tory, upon which we have just been touching. For this was 
no accidental result, as a glance at a map of the North Amer- 
ican colonies will show us. Where among them all was there 
a colony with a physical configuration such as this colony had, 
closely hugging the bay, with navigable waters penetrating 
everywhere inland, and from a very early period covered with 
the white sails of commerce? It was, I say, no accident, that 
from a period long preceding the War of the Revolution, the 
term "Rhode Islander " had come to be synonymous with 
"a born sailor." From ofificial and family records one may 
draw forth many a particular instance in corroboration of this 
tendency. We have time for but one. Governor Stephen Hop- 
kins himself never followed the sea, although largely interested 
in commercial ventures; but, of his four brothers who attained 
mature age, every one followed the sea, and all but one be- 
came masters of vessels. Of his four sons who reached adult 
life, every one followed the sea, and all but one became mas- 
ters of vessels. In the attack on the Gaspcc in 1772, out of a 
company by no means numerous, four were so near akin to 
him as nephew, cousin, and nephew and grand-nephew by 
marriage. Out of the officers who led the earliest American 
war- vessels into action, three were so near akin to him as 
brother, nephew and cousin. 

But if the achievements of the men of that period are seen, 
in the light of instances such as this, to have been in some 
sense due to transmitted tendencies, why should it not be 
possible that some of the events and activities of our own time 
are due to hereditary impulses from the men of the Revolu- 
tion? The phenomena so easily accessible forbid us to doubt 
this. And yet it is surely one thing to say that these princi- 
ples of heredity have undoubtedly been influential, and quite 



29 

another thing to say that we understand so fully the exact re- 
lation between cause and effect, as to know with mathematical 
certainty precisely what results will ensue. The science of 
heredity — if, indeed, this use of language be admissible — is not 
yet an exact science. It is still in very much the same stage 
of advancement as that in which the science of astronomy was 
in those ages when the terms " eccentric " and " eccentricity " 
were brought into use to describe certain evolutions of the 
heavenly bodies. The word contains, indeed, a picture of 
distortion, of incompleteness, but it is the incompleteness of 
the knowledge which men had on the subject, and not of the 
principles themselves. And so in the field of heredity, while 
the observation of phenomena will always be in order, deduc- 
tions or generalizations from these phenomena must be con- 
ducted with caution. 

And yet we may, I think, with safety assert that there are 
phenomena of the kind which we are considering, sufficiently 
definite and sufficiently familiar not to occasion surprise when 
brought to our notice. Certainly if, as we read the annals of 
ancient Greece, we find, without surprise, representatives of 
one and the same family, but in successive generations, serving 
with distinction at Marathon, at Thermopylae, and at Salamis; 
if, as we read English history, it does not surprise us to find the 
illustrious name of Napier represented, with distinction, at the 
battle of Badajos in 1812, and the same illustrious name of 
Napier, but twenty years later, winning no less distinction at the 
second naval battle off Cape St. Vincent, in 1833, we need not 
feel surprise when a similar result follows an examination of 
the great names of this little colony of Rhode Island, in the 
Revolutionary period — of Nathanael Greene and Stephen 
Olney in the field ; of Abraham Whipple and Esek Hopkins 
on the ocean ; of Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward, and Wil- 
liam Ellery on the floor of the Continental Congress — and of 
their descendants during the generations down to our own. 
In nearly every instance we find it the case, that the blood 
which coursed through the veins of these Rhode Islanders of 



30 

the last century, compelling them to service for their country, 
by whatever agency was most directly fitted to their situation, 
whether the sword, the naval fleet, or the pen wherewith to 
sign the Great Declaration, coursed also through the veins of 
their descendants, compelling them also to their country's ser- 
vice. I have said that the principles of heredity are not yet 
so minutely understood that we can always see why a particu- 
lar result follows a particular cause ; why it was, for example, 
that the descendant of a distinguished military hero, as Colonel 
Ebenezer Webster, of New Hampshire, in rendering his 
country a service seldom surpassed by that of any other 
man — for in the first half of the nineteenth century there is no 
single individual who more profoundly influenced public opinion 
in the direction of American unity and nationality, than Daniel 
Webster — should have performed that service in civil rather 
than in military life; But it has more than once happened in 
our national history, that the duties of civil life have been not 
inferior, in opportunities for patriotic service, to those of the 
camp ; and a signal instance of the truth is found in the career 
of the late Thomas Allen Jenckes, of Rhode Island, descended 
from one of New Hampshire's military leaders in the War of 
the Revolution, but associating his name indelibly on the 
floor of Congress with acts of constructive statesmanship which 
are destined to affect most profoundly our political life. 

It need, therefore, occasion no surprise when we find Rhode 
Island names — inextricably intertwined as they are, with the 
memories of the Battles of Rhode Island, of Monmouth, of 
Long Island, of Red Bank, of Princeton, of Trenton, of Nine- 
ty-Six, and of Yorktown, in the struggle of a century ago, — as 
inextricably intertwined in the great conflict of our own time, 
with the memories of Fredericksburg, of Newbern, of Chan- 
tilly, of Antietam, and of Gettysburg. When we find a 
descendant of Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence (Capt. Charles Tillinghast), 
laying down his life at the siege of Newbern in i86'2 ; 
when we see how the spirit which lived in William Ellery, 



31 

another signer, who, as he tells us, took his stand where he 
could observe the features of each successive signer of the 
Declaration, and, he exultantly declares, " Undaunted resolu- 
tion was displayed in every countenance" — how the same spirit, 
I say, was not only living in his grand-nephew, who served in 
the United States Navy against the Barbary pirates, but in his 
own grandson, William Ellery Channing, a soul of Titanic pro- 
portions in a puny body, whose heroic attitude towards the 
great evil of American slavery is a matter of common history. 
Nor need we even be surprised at such an instance as that of 
Governor Samuel Ward, of Rhode Island: for to few Rhode 
Islanders — to few Americans, indeed — has it fallen to be con- 
nected with the parent stock of a family flowering out into so 
brilliant and so bewildering a variety of activities — literary, 
artistic, military, mercantile, reformatory, social, philanthropic, 
and patriotic. And yet even here, notice how squarely the 
patriotic note is struck, not only in such names as the two dis- 
tinguished military ofificers (General William G. Ward and Col- 
onel John Ward), but their illustrious sister, Mrs. Julia 
Ward Howe, one of the noble women of our century, contrib- 
uting a notable impulse to the patriotic movement by her 
"Battle Hymn of the Republic," in the dark days of the Civil 
War, and in numberless other ways. In the annals of Rhode 
Island patriotism a century ago few names are more constantly 
connected with notable impulses at critical moments than that 
of the Nicholas Brown of that day ; and in the annals of our 
late Civil War the gallantry and chivalrous achievements of 
many of his descendants were conspicuous. Without enumer- 
ating any of those now living, there are two names among the 
honored dead, worthy of undying remembrance ; that of Lieu- 
tenant Robert Hale Ives, Jr., receiving his mortal wound at 
Antietam in 1862, and that of Lieutenant-Commander Thomas 
Poynton Ives, surviving indeed to witness the close of the 
struggle, but dying soon after, from injuries contracted in the 
wholly unique service which he performed for his country — a 
service to find a parallel to which one must go back to the 



32 

days of the Knights of old. A still different modification is to 
be observed in the case of James Burrill, born as he was in 
Providence, in 1772, and breathing almost in his cradle, "the 
spirit of ''j^y Not only did he live to render distinguished ser- 
vice on the floor of Congress, but to be the ancestor, in the next 
generation but one, of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bridgham 
Curtis, slain on the field of Fredericksburg, in 1862, and of 
George William Curtis, still, fortunately, with us, and per- 
forming unequalled service in measures looking to a purer polit- 
ical and national life — a service which demands the gratitude 
of every lover of his country. 

There are some Rhode Island families which have seemed 
to run the whole gamut of American wars. Such are the Perry 
and the Fry families. Christopher R. Perry, serving with 
honor in the War of the Revolution, became the father of the 
five well-known sons (Nathanael Hazard Perry, James A. 
Perry, Raymond H. J. Perry, Oliver Hazard Perry and Mat- 
thew Calbraith Perry), all of whom were naval officers, and 
two of whom rose to be Commodores in the United States 
Navy. Moreover, both of his two daughters married naval 
officers, Dr. William Butler, U. S. N. ; and Commodore G. 
W. Rodgers, U. S. N., the latter being the father of 
Rear- Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers, U. S. N., and Commander 
G. W. Rodgers, U. S. N. Oliver Hazard Perry won his 
laurels in the War of 18 12; in the Seminole War of 1852, 
James A. Perry, of the next generation, bore an honorable 
part; in the Mexican War, Matthew C. Perry, Jr., of the same 
generation; while James A. Perry, just mentioned, survived 
to render important service in the late Civil War. In the War 
of the Revolution both Colonel Richard Fry and Major Ben- 
jamin Fry were conspicuous Rhode Island leaders. A son of 
the latter, Ensign John Fry, served in the War of 18 12. In 
the third generation, Brevet-Major Thomas William Gardiner 
Fry died a few years after the late war, from wounds received 
in the Wilderness Campaign in 1865. In the next generation, 
his son. Sergeant Alfred Brooks Fry — Secretary of the Mas- 



33 

sachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution — 
also served, though at the time but a boy, in a Michigan regi- 
ment, in the same war. Sergeant Fry is not the only contri- 
bution of Rhode Island, either to the United States Army, or 
to this Society, credited to the somewhat remote State of Mich- 
igan. From Commodore Abraham Whipple, with whom the 
beginnings of our naval history are connected, are descended 
two Michigan men,Col.E.S. Sibley (of the U.S. Regular Army) 
and his son, Frederick T. Sibley, of Detroit, Secretary of the 
Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. 
General Nathanael Greene, to whom, next to Washington 
himself, in the judgment of careful students of military history, 
the final success of our arms in the field was due in the Revo- 
lution, was only one of a numerous family of brothers. From 
one of his own descendants, the late George Washington 
Greene, came more than one patriotic impulse during our late 
war, notably his Lowell Institute lectures in 1863; but from 
another branch of the Greene family is descended the brave Gen- 
eral George Sears Greene, whose achievements on the field of 
Gettysburg are a part of its imperishable history, and his sons, 
George S. Greene, Jr., and Francis Vinton Greene, and Samuel 
Dana Greene, some of whom have added in recent years other 
laurels to those won by the others in the Civil War. Among 
the descendants of Silas Casey, of East Greenwich, are Major- 
General Silas Casey, U. S. A., and Brigadier-General Thomas 
L. Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. ; and Lieut. Thomas 
L. Casey, Jr., of the Engineer service ; also. Lieutenant Edward 
Wanton Casey, U. S. A., and Commander Silas Casey, U. 
S. N., of the Wissahickon. There are few instances, however, 
so noteworthy as that of Colonel Daniel Lyman, of Rhode 
Island, of the Continental Army, in the number of his descend- 
ants of distinction who have rendered patriotic service. They 
include General Richard Arnold, U. S. A., and Sergeant 
Daniel Lyman Arnold, U. S. A., in the late war; Commander 
Kidder Randolph Breese, U. S. N., and Colonel George E. 
Randolph, U. S. A., wounded at Gettysburg and serving 



34 

through many another hard - fought battle ; and Brigadier- 
General Hazard Stevens, U. S. A., son of Major-General 
Isaac I. Stevens; Henry Lyman Tillinghast, of the First 
Rhode Island Regiment, and his brother. Captain Charles Til- 
linghast, of the Fourth Rhode Island Regiment, already 
mentioned above. A sister of General Arnold married Briga- 
dier-General Isaac P. Rodman. Of these gallant officers, 
Captain Tillinghast was killed at Newbern, General I. I. 
Stevens at Chantilly, General Rodman at Antietam, and Lieu- 
tenant Casey in South Dakota, in a fight with the hostile In- 
dians since the present year (1891) came in. 

But while the patriotic record just referred to is found to 
characterize Rhode Island, it is not true of Rhode Island only. 
When we examine the records of other States, we find that 
they tell the same tale. Indeed, the same wide variety of 
patriotic service impresses us there as here. Take the case of 
John Lowell, an officer in the Massachusetts troops, in the 
Revolution. In the next generation, we find his son. Dr. 
Charles Lowell, bending all his energies in conflict with Ameri- 
can slavery. What wonder that these transmitted tendencies 
showed themselves in the next generation in James Russell 
Lowell, in whose prose and verse, saturated as it is with the 
spirit of his time, the student of Hterary history a century 
hence will perhaps find the literature most characteristic of this 
period, as that of Sir Walter Raleigh is of the age of Eliza- 
beth? In the next generation still, the heroic young offi- 
cer, Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., received his fatal wound at 
Cedar Creek in 1864 while supporting Sheridan's attack on 
Winchester. Or in Rufus King of Massachusetts, — in the then 
district of Maine, — serving in the War of the Revolution as an 
aide to General Sullivan, afterwards distinguished in civil 
affairs, and father of two officers in the war of 18 12, Lieu- 
tenant John AIsop King and Adjutant James G. King. An- 
other son was Charles King whose distinguished career was as 
President of Columbia College; but in 1861 it is a noteworthy 
fact that every able-bodied son and grandson of Charles King 



35 

took the field at the first call. We find, therefore, in the third 
generation, Brigadier-General Rufus King; Captain Cornelius 
L. King; and Augustus F. King, of the New York 7th Regi- 
ment; and in the next generation still, Lieutenant Rufus 
King, who served in the Artillery in the war, and Captain 
■Charles King, who at the age of 16 fought with his father's 
brigade in the late war, and has since served on our Indian 
frontier, being also the secretary of the Wisconsin Society of 
the Sons of the American Revolution. Doubtless every State 
Society can supply instances of the same general character. 
The case of the Harrison family is a familiar one. Benja- 
min Harrison, of Virginia, rendered many important services 
■during the Revolution, His son. General William Henry 
Harrison, not only fought with distinction against the hostile 
Indians, but took his seat in the presidential chair; in the next 
generation, John Scott Harrison served on the floor of Con- 
gress; and in the next generation still. Colonel, and afterwards 
General Benjamin Harrison not only led the 70th Indiana 
Regiment in the Civil War, but now occupies the highest civil 
position in this nation. In the Indiana Society of the Sons of 
the American Revolution also, Colonel Samuel Merrill, who 
succeeded Colonel Harrison in the command of the 70th 
Indiana, is descended from Captain Samuel Merrill, of the 
War of the Revolution. Lieutenant Joseph Winlock, of Vir- 
ginia, of the War of the Revolution, served as General (of 
Kentucky troops), in the War of 18 12, in which also served his 
son, Fielding Winlock. In the next generation, Joseph Win- 
lock, U. S. N., and in the next generation still, William C. 
Winlock, the secretary of the Sons of the American Revolu- 
tion of the District of Columbia, have inherited their patriotic 
tendencies. But there is probably no more striking instance 
than that of the family of the late Admiral Porter, who at the 
time of his death was president of the Sons of the Ameri- 
<:an Revolution of the District of Columbia. In the War of 
the Revolution there served in the American Navy three 
generations of this family. Captain Alexander Porter, 



36 

his two sons, Captain David Porter, and Captain Samuel, 
and his grandson, who later became Commodore David 
Porter in the War of 1812. The third generation also em- 
braced John Porter, also of the Navy. The fourth generation 
gave to the Army two brilliant ofificers, Lieutenant Theodoric 
Porter, (a member of the Maryland Society of the Sons of 
the American Revolution), and Brigadier-General Fitz-John 
Porter; and three to the Navy, namely, the late Admiral 
David D. Porter, and his brothers. Commodore William D. 
Porter, and Lieutenant Henry O. Porter; while in the next 
generation still, the 5th, are three who served in the late Civil 
War, one of them on the Federal side, and the other two on 
the Confederate side. 

For the "Spirit of '76" was one which burned, and shone, 
and flamed, South as well as North. If it does not surprise us 
that descendants of the Greenes, the Perrys, or the Whipples 
were unable in 1861 to retain the sword in its scabbard, no 
more should it surprise us when, south of Mason's and Dixon's 
Line the same impulse led the son of General Henry Lee of 
the War of the Revolution, to draw his sword for the cause 
which appealed to his deepest sympathies ; nor that in all the 
territory along the border line, Maryland and Virginia, Ken- 
tucky and Missouri, family after family was represented on both 
sides in the heroic struggle. And so it is that we find Colonel 
Charles Marshall — a member of the Maryland Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution, and a descendant bf Colonel 
Thomas Marshall of the War of the Revolution — standing side 
by side with General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, and his 
kinsman, Colonel Charles A. Marshall, fighting on the Federal 
side ; that we find Colonel James C. Breckenridge in the Federal 
Army, while his own cousin, Colonel William C. P. Brecken- 
ridge, fought at the head of a Confederate regiment. I have 
spoken of some of these men as being members of our Society. 
I hold in my hand, Mr. President, a list of names, which is elo- 
quent in its suggestiveness. It is the roll of members of the 
Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, on 



37 

the margin of which have been written the initials "U.S." or "C. 
S.," against the names of members, to indicate their participa- 
tion, on one side or the other, in our late war. What impresses 
one in the first place is the small number of men who did not 
fight on one side or the other, and in the second place the 
striking manner in which the letters "U. S." and **C. S." al- 
ternate with each other. 

This Society of ours, Mr. President, founded as it is on the 
memories of 1776, is almost the only one of our patriotic so- 
cieties which in so signal a manner unites in its membership 
North and South alike. There are other organizations to which 
many of us belong, which naturally and appropriately lay em- 
phasis on those distinctive principles on which the late war was 
fought, from our side. It is right that these organizations 
should exist, and it is right that they should thus lay emphasis 
on the principles which were so gloriously upheld in that con- 
flict. But, sir, I believe there is room for a society with aims 
such as ours. I believe, moreover, that it offers to patriotic 
citizens in our day, one of the best possible agencies of weld- 
ing us. North and South, into one people — the American peo- 
ple. I believe, sir, that even the heroic deeds of the late war 
itself will come, year by year, to contribute to the same end. In 
two* years more, Mr. President, we shall reach the thirtieth an- 
niversary of the battle of Gettysburg. The life of an average 
generation will very nearly have passed since the date of that 
tremendous struggle, in which both sides rose to a level of heroic 
endeavor and almost superhuman endurance, not elsewhere sur- 
passed in the history of that war, and in but few of the great 
military encounters of all history. I believe that it will become, 
from year to year, an increasingly difficult thing for an Ameri- 
can citizen to read the narrative of that struggle — whether it 
be of the great deeds of Slocum, of Hancock, of Warren or of 
Greene, or of the heroic efforts of Pickett, of Ewell, of Early 
or of Stuart — without quickened breath, without an accelerated 



* The above address was delivered in 1S91. 



38 

pulse, without a feeling of pride that he is an American, and 
that these men are his brothers. 

Mr. President, the patriotic impulse and the patriotic in- 
spiration, and the heroic example have their appropriate place 
in times of peace as truly as in times of war. The patriotic 
citizen of our own day need be at no loss to find fields for 
the exercise of his best service, whether in seeing to it that 
the children of the generation now growing up to manhood 
shall have impressed upon their minds the necessity of pre- 
serving our government in its integrity, and the greatness of 
the sacrifices which have been made in its behalf ; that these 
young minds be made familiar with the history of our country, 
and with the principles of civil government ; or whether in the 
support of measures for the purity of the ballot and the purity 
of the civil service ; or, in general, in everywhere holding the 
interests of our country far above all narrower, or partisan, 
or petty interests. The time has not passed when love of 
one's country is either an unknown or an unneeded virtue. It 
is still a duty laid upon us, by all that we have received from 
the generations before us, in impulse, and in inspiration, and in 
example, to pass the torch, with undiminished flame, to those 
who stand ready to take it from our hands. 

At the close of the address, remarks were made by Prof. 
Alonzo Williams, and the exercises were brought to a close by 
the reading of the following poem, prepared for the occasion 
by Rev. Frederic Denison, poet of the Society: 

PATRIOT REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN 
RHODE ISLAND. 
I. 

The genius of history sings of the beauty 

Of children surrounding the shrine of their sires, 
Constrained by a hallowed dictation of duty, 

Rekindling, in pureness, the old altar fires. 
II. 
Our faith-girded fathers the wilderness planted, 

Deep laying foundations of empire anew; 
Beside them our love-loyal mothers, undaunted, 

Set Sharon's sweet roses where pagan thorns grew. 



39 

Though silently all in "God's acres" are sleeping, 
Their deeds stand as sentinels guarding their tombs; 

Where bravely they toiled, we, their memories keeping. 
Bring new to their sepulchres choicest of blooms. 

No fields are so rich, so in harvests abounding, 

With all that exalts and ennobles mankind. 
As those where brave spirits contended in founding 

New alters for worship and freedom of mind. 
III. 
The flame lit by Williams — a new age divining — 

Pure truth that his Puritan neighbors despised, — 
So bright in its glow, so for all souls abounding, 

By breadth of its beams, all opposers surprised. 

It shone through the gloom of his lonely plantation. 
As star of the morning leads up from the night, 

Becoming, at last, the glad boast of our nation, 
The symbol and pledge of humanity's right. 

IV. 

So hold we our sires in devout estimation, 

Their patriot service the theme of refrain. 
Their virtues imparting a fresh inspiration. 

To far generations conveying the strain. 

V. 

Alas, that old England, intent upon treasures. 
Should purpose her dutiful children to chain, 

Adopting despotic, tyrannical measures. 

Embittering their lives by her passion for gain. 

But planters resisted illegal taxation, 

Bold merchants and sailors, asserting their claims, 
Revealed to King George their intense detestation 

Consigning his tea and the " Gaspee" to flames. 

And when on our shores broke the billows of battle, 
Unfearing to meet the great conflict, were seen 

Such leaders, of true and invincible mettle. 

As Hopkins, Ward, Olney, Brown, Whipple and Greene. 

Rhode Island's sons, first to declare Independence. 

Foresworn to the rights of men given of God, 
Accepted the challenge, and stood as defendants. 

Nor stinted devotement of treasure and blood. 

Her beautiful islands were trodden by Hessians, 

Her wide-spreading commerce was swept from the seas, 

A plot for enhancing the royal possessions. 
Subserving a merciless tyrant's decrees. 



40 



But hills of the North and the balmy savannahs, 

With bayonets gleaming, sent forth their strong bands 

Aligned as a phalanx beneath their free banners, 
To conquer or perish, at Freedom's commands. 

VI. 

Here haply the fabled Hesperides olden, 
With rivers and forests and vales to allure, 

Potential of fleeces and apples, pure golden, 
That only a Hercules' arm could secure. 

That arm was the freedom appointed of Heaven, 
Imparted by Him who stilled Galilee's waves. 

The spirit and strength to our forefathers given 
By which they could never consent to be slaves. 

VII. 

'Twixt Kingcraft and freedom the strife, here beginning, 
A warning conveyed to the thrones of the earth; 

Truth battling hoar error, supremacy winning. 
Predestined to bring a new epoch to birth. 

The problem, by Providence, set for our nation, 
That prophets and Magi but dimly foresaw. 

The brotherhood rights of all men by creation. 
And government shaped to express the great law. 

Consider convulsions not always as evils, 

The terrible earthquake brings good in disguise; 

By fiery, gigantic, transforming upheavals 

The mountains were raised to commune with the skies. 

The tyrannish yoke by our fathers was broken, 

Who marshalled the stars as their light and their guide; 

In face of all kings their new charter was spoken — 
That edict a hemisphere's life to decide; 

To crowned heads exciting profound consternation. 

As if a true Daniel had spoken again — 
The spirit and pith of the new Declaration 

That God made the earth, not for kings but for men. 

VIII. 

What our ancestors laid on our national altar, 

The rights they defended, and battles they fought, 

Shall grateful be sung in our patriot psalter, 
Their record in granite memorials wrought. 

Whoever stands forth as a shield for his fellows, 
And holds as his own the true rights of his race, 

Though falling for Freedom in war's bloody billows. 
Shall evermore live in his country's embrace. 



41 



That life is the noblest that freely is given 
To rescue a people from peril and shame, 

So kindred to Him who descended from heaven 
To lift up the fallen from thraldom and blame. 

Men prize their philosophies, creeds and confessions, 
As potent to scatter oblivion's gloom; 

But when will they weigh that sublimest of lessons, 
That paths of true service end not in the tomb. 



Our nation will tenderly, thankfully cherish 
The names of our chivalrous Gallic allies; 

In Liberty's garden the Lilies shall flourish 

So long as the Red, White and Blue we shall prize. 

While history guards that band, knightly and royal, 

One star in the galaxy never can set. 
That one to the cause of true brotherhood loyal, 

The noble, the gallant, the loved Lafayette. 

But more, by grace given, that General peerless — 
A Moses to lead the emancipate host — 

Our Washington, giant like, matchless and fearless, 
Commander and statesman, our continent's boast. 

And one, for his skill and sagacity noted, 

On whom our great leader could confident lean, 

A son of Rhode Island, to Freedom devoted, 
Whose virtue and fame shall forever be Greene. 

But why call the list, since the whole generation 
Went forth to the field like the Grecians of old 

On Marathon's plain, to resist the invasion. 
Their names on the tablets of honor em oiled. 

Heroic were all who confronted the Lion 

And humbled the pride of a monarchy strong. 

Esteeming it justly far better to die on 

The field than to slavishly bow to the wrong. 

For insight and tact in supreme legislation 

They reached to the happiest height ot renown. 

As here in the New World they throned a new nation 
And bound on the brows of the people the crown. 

Proud potentates, posing in purple pavilions. 
Beholding our land, superciliously sneered; 

Yet secrectly pondered the march of the millions. 
And much for their sceptres' stability feared. 



'42 

X. 

By Providence meant, whatso actors intended, 
From Concord to Yorktown our sires woke a wave 

Of triumph to be with the angel song blended 
Till earth shall no more hear the wail of a slave. 

Heaven sent them a banner of beauty and glory 
Ordained to be borne in humanity's van. 

Whose victories wide-winged by anthem and story. 
Foretoken the full disenthrallment of man. 

The Star Rhody lent to the new constellation 
In lustre supplied what was wanting in size, 

And there it remains in serene radiation 
Not second to any in Liberty's skies. 



APPENDIX. 



CONNECTION OF RHODE ISLAND WITH THE SUCCESSIVE 

STEPS LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF THE 

AMERICAN NAVY. 

June ID, 1772, the British schooner, Gaspee, was captured and burned off 
Gaspee Point, R. I., by a company of Rhode Island citizens. This was the first 
overt act of resistance in any of the colonies, but occurred before the battle of 
Lexington had begun formal hostilities. 

May II, 1775, the British schooner Margaretta, was attacked and captured 
near Machias, in the District of Maine, then a part of Massachusetts. This is the 
first attack by sea after the battle of Lexington, but it was the act of uncommis- 
sioned assailants. 

June 15, 1775, the tender of the British ship Rose^ was attacked off Conanicut 
Island, R. I.,, and, after a sharp fight, was captured, by an armed sloop, under 
command of Captain Abraham Whipple, an ofilcer who had been commissioned by 
the colony of Rhode Island for the defense of the American colonies. 

June 12, 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly had voted to place two 
other armed vessels under command of Whipple, with the rank of Commodore. 

By October i, 1775, vessels had also been fitted out by the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut. 

In August, 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly forwarded to their 
delegates in the Continental Congress. Hopkins and Ward, a memorial, calling 
for an American fleet, "at the Continental expense." 



43 

Octobers. I775, Messrs. Hopkins and Ward presented these Rhode Island 
resolutions in Congress. 

October 13, 1775, one vessel was ordered by Congress, and a " marine com- 
mittee " appointed. 

October 30, 1775, a second one was ordered, and Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode 
Island, was appointed a member of the marine committee. 

In November, 1775, General Washington was authorized by Congress to com- 
mission one or more vessels. 

December 11, 1775, Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was appointed a 
memberof a committee to furnish "a naval armament." 

December 22, 1775, Esek Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was appointed by Con- 
gress "Commander-in-Chief " of the Navy. " His official appellation among sea- 
men," says Cooper, "appears to have been that of ' Commodore.' " 

February 17, 1776, his fleet of 8 vessels sailed from Delaware Bay, on its first 
cruise. 

In March, 1776, the first naval action of the American fleet took place off the 
Bahamas. Commodore Hopkins captured two forts, and sailed away with his 
prisoners, cannon, and other military stores. 

In April, 1776, by a succession of engagements, he freed Narragansett Bay 
from British cruisers. 

January 2, 1778, after much opposition to the measure, from John Adams, 
and other members of the marine committee, a vote was passed by this committee, 
dismissing him from the service. 

After a succession of commissions, etc. , under the name of a " board of assis- 
tants," a "board of admiralty," a "secretary of marine," and an "agent of 
marine," the present Department of the Navy was created in 1798, George 
Cabot becoming the first Secretary of the Navy, May 3, 1798. 



^ 



ANNUAL MEETING 

AT 

RHODES-ON-THE-PAWTUXET, 

JUNE 4, 1892. 

The adjourned annual meeting of the Rhode Island Society 
of the Sons of the American Revolution, was held at Rhodes- 
on-the-Pawtuxet, a popular suburban resort situated near the 
village of Pawtuxet, on Saturday afternoon, June 4, 1892. 

Shortly after two o'clock the meeting was called to order 
by President Stone, and the following ofificers for the year en- 
suing were elected : 

President — John Carter Brown Woods. 

Vice-President — Amasa M. Eaton. 

Secretary — R. Grenville Brown. 

Treasurer — Olney Arnold, II. 

Registrar — Edward Field. 

Historian — William E. Foster. 

Poet — Rev. Frederic Denison. 

Delegates — James F. Mallett, 

Charles W. Abbot, Jr., 

And the President and Vice-President. 

The officers of the Society were elected the Board of Man- 
agers. 

At three o'clock the members and guests, about 60 in num- 
ber, sat down to a Rhode Island clam dinner, with some ex- 
tras prepared by Proprietor Thomas H. Rhodes, a grandson of 
Benjamin Rhodes of Warwick, who served as a seaman on the 
guard ship "Pigot Galley," and as a private in the Pawtuxet 
Rangers during the Revolutionary struggle. 

After the dinner the meeting was called to order by Presi- 
dent Woods, who thanked the members for the honor of the 



45 

election, and then called upon Alfred Stone, Esq., retiring 
president, who presented the following address and report : 

Members of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the A meri- 
can Revolution : 

We are gathered to-day to perform the duties appertaining 
to the Annual Meeting of this Society, which, by the Consti- 
tution, should have been holden on the 30th day of May, but 
was adjourned to this time and place ; and also to take counsel 
together to devise plans to infuse into our body more life than 
has characterized its past existence, and to bring into its mem- 
bership a larger number of those who can claim the distinctive 
honor of descent from those patriots who, more than a hund- 
red years ago, had the courage to resist the unjust oppressions 
of the mother country, and by persistent effort under most se- 
vere and discouraging conditions, to win a triumph which 
placed the people who lived on these shores in a position to 
form themselves into a nation based upon the government 
of the people by the people, and to found a State without a 
King. 

In the more than one hundred years which have elapsed 
since those days, the memory of which we deem it our duty, 
as well as our privilege to preserve, what changes have taken 
place in the position which we hold as one of the brotherhood 
of nations, and what duties do the opportunities of the hour 
impose upon us! 

This is not the occasion, and, if it were, I have neither the 
power nor the time to enumerate them. There is, however, 
one duty which belongs peculiarly to this Society, namely, the 
duty to infuse into the people who make up the citizenship of 
this country, whether native or foreign born, whether descend- 
ed from the Revolutionary patriots or not, the idea that this 
country was established with a government distinctively 
Republican and American, and those who live under it must 
adapt themselves to these two distinct ideas, and they must 
become and continue to live, as long as they enjoy the privi- 



46 

lege of residence here, both Americans and Repubhcans, and 
must cease to be wedded either to the government or the prac- 
tices of any other nation or any other people. 

We must foster, in a broad and comprehensive spirit, that 
aphorism, "America for Americans," but we must not be mis- 
understood, and our proverb must not be construed to confine 
our definition of Americans to any narrower limits than what 
our generous and liberal naturalization laws have set ; but we 
must insist that when one becomes an American citizen, he 
must, not only in fact but in spirit, cease to be an alien. 

Various reasons have contributed to prevent the officers of 
the Society from calling meetings, and from pursuing a more 
active policy during the past year, but we trust we have put 
its affairs into such condition that our successors, whom you 
will elect to-day, may put to shame those of us who retire 
from office by the interest which they will awaken and the 
success which they will achieve. 

You will learn from the reports of the registrar, the secre- 
tary, and the treasurer, the present status of the Society's 
affairs; and I am sure you will appreciate the work which 
these officers have done, especially the very effective and 
thorough work of the secretary, who has copied into suitable 
books the records and a roll of members ; and of the registrar 
who has prepared the manuscript for printing the Manual 
which was authorized a year ago. It is proposed in this Man- 
ual to print the history of the Society, its Constitution and 
By-Laws, a list of its members, with a brief outline of the 
lineage by which each person is entitled to membership, and 
so much of the addresses and proceedings of this meeting, and 
of the one which was holden last year, as the Committee 
appointed at that time may deem expedient. It is confidently 
expected that the Manual will be issued and ready for distri- 
bution by the first of October next. 

In the very short address which I made last year, I spoke 
of the importance of marking and preserving sites which pos- 
sessed an historic value and the officers have not been unmind- 



47 

ful of this duty; and they would at this time say that steps 
have been taken with a view of securing the fort at Field's 
Point, known as Fort Independence, an earthwork thrown up 
in the days of the Revolution, and still preserved in sharp and 
well-defined outline, crowning a prominent hill, and with it 
as much of the adjoining land as possible. In fact, it would 
be a wise step for this Society to' take such action as would 
induce the city to secure this whole point as a public reserva- 
tion, and then obtain permission to take such steps as might 
be necessary to erect a suitable monument to mark the spot, 
and to so environ it as to secure it from injury. 

Upon it we might place the statue of a Continental soldier 
with his flintlock, three-cornered hat and top boots, as recom- 
mended by Dr. Chauncey M. Depew in his after-dinner address 
at the Congress which was held in New York on the 30th of 
April. 

Another object which has been definitely considered is the 
fixing of a bronze tablet on the west end of the Board of 
Trade Building, to commemorate the Providence Tea-Party, 
which will be celebrated in fitting terms by our poet, before 
we adjourn to-night, and which will no doubt so inspire you 
that you will all wish to contribute in money and in influence 
to make the suggestion on assured fact. A sketch of a tablet 
has been hung upon the wall for your inspection, suggestions 
and criticism. 

The Board of Managers have memorialized the General As- 
sembly to cause the Revolutionary Muster Rolls of Rhode Island 
to be indexed and printed, as has already been done in some of 
the States. New Hampshire has published four volumes; 
Connecticut has published a magnificent work containing 
30,000 names; New York has a book containing 40,000 
names; New Jersey has published the results of twenty-five 
years of labor of Gen. William S. Stryker ; Pennsylvania has 
printed four volumes, and a fifth is in preparation ; and Massa- 
chusetts is preparing to arrange and print its muster rolls. 

In 1850, Hon. Benjamin Cowell published a book called 



48 

" The Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island, or Sketches of the Efforts 
of the Government and People in the War of the Revolution, 
together with the Names of Those who belonged to Rhode Is- 
land Regiments in the Army, with Biographical Notices, 
Reminiscences, etc." 

This volume is out of print, is rare and necessarily imper- 
fect, but is full of interest and contains much that would un- 
doubtedly have been lost to the world if it had not been pub- 
lished. It should be supplemented by the printing of the 
rosters of the regiments, so far as they can be procured, and I 
understand that much that has never been printed is already 
in manuscript in the hands of the Secretary of State, in con- 
dition for speedy publication, if the work shall be ordered by 
the General Assembly. 

Since our last meeting, the women of Rhode Island, with 
characteristic energy and zeal, have formed the Gaspee Chap- 
ter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and its roll 
of members already numbers about one hundred. 

The Chapter gave an exhibition in the rooms of the Cabi- 
net of the Rhode Island Historical Society, which was very 
fully attended, and in its completeness of arrangement and 
large display of interesting relics was worthy of the brilliant, 
delighted and enthusiastic crowds of people who attended it. 

The most important events which have taken place during 
the year that are directly connected with the purposes of this 
organization were, first, the dedication of the monument 
erected near the site of the Battle of Bennington; and 
second, the Annual Congress of the National Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution in New York on the 30th 
day of April. 

It was my privilege to attend the ceremonies at Benning- 
ton, with two other members of the Society, and to participate 
therein as delegates from this Society, having been appointed 
to that duty by the President of the National Society. We 
were the guests of the City of Bennington, and were assigned 
to a prominent place in the procession, to seats under the great 



49 

tent to assist in the services at the monument, and at the great 
banquet after the dedicatory exercises we were accorded a very 
favorable position at the table, near that occupied by the 
President of the United States. The city was filled with peo- 
ple, the procession was long and impressive, and the address of 
welcome, the extremely felicitous speech of the President of 
the United States, and the masterly dedicatory address of the 
Hon. Edwin J. Phelps, were worthy of the great occasion 
which celebrated, not only the Battle of Bennington, but also 
the centenary of the founding of Vermont ; and the after-din- 
ner speeches of the President of the United States, of the 
Orator of the Day, of the Governor of the State, of Gen. O. 
O. Howard of the United States Army, a prominent corps 
commander in the Civil War, and those of many others, were 
full of patriotic fervor and inspired the spirited enthusiasm of 
the immense audiences. 

It was not in my power to attend the Third Annual Con- 
gress of the National Society in New York on the 30th of 
April, because of my necessary presence in Chicago upon that 
day, but the published accounts of the proceedings at the Con- 
vention and the brilliant dinner which followed fully justify 
the words of the Historian - General, Henry Hall, who I 
hoped would be our guest on this occasion, and who writes to 
me: "You cannot speak too strongly in praise of the late Con- 
gress of the Sons of the American Revolution. It was an un- 
qualified success in every particular ; large, enthusiastic, held 
in a noble room, composed of splendid men and every way 
admirable." 

As our Secretary attended the Convention, I will leave it 
for him to give a fuller account than what I can gather from 
the report in the New York Tribune of May 1st, but I wish to 
call your attention to some of the things which were reported 
to the Congress. 

The report of the Registrar-General showed at that time a 
membership of 3,503, and that the national archives contained 
3,027 individual records of lineal descendants of patriots of the 



50 

Revolutionary War. A rigid scrutiny is made of all the appli- 
cations, both at home, by the officers of this Society, and in 
Washington, by the Registrar-General, before issuing certifi- 
cates of membership or permits for badges. To illustrate, let 
me cite the instance of one applicant whose record was 
thought to be sufficient by the officers of this Society, but it 
was sent back here for amendment and added evidence be- 
fore it would be received as satisfactory at Washington. A 
close study of the composition of the membership of the Sons 
of the American Revolution shows that it includes the descend- 
ants of nearly all the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, as well as those of hundreds of persons, soldiers and sail- 
ors, who led the American Army to victory. 

The report of the Historian-General shows that of a popu- 
lation of 2,300,000, 328,345, at least 14 per cent, of the 
whole, served in the combined forces of the Continental Army 
and the militia; and, therefore, there must of necessity be a 
very large number of persons who are now eligible to member- 
ship in the twenty-two societies already formed in the United 
States. I am not aware how many Rhode Island can claim, 
but she doubtless did not fall behind her sister States in the 
quota which she furnished, and we have in our small Society 
descendants of Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, a delegate to the Convention 
convened at Providence, December 25, 1776, of the Commit- 
tees appointed by the States of Massachusetts Bay, Connec- 
ticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, to consult upon means to support the credit, prevent 
monopolies and high price of goods, regulate vendues, embargo 
on shipping, etc. ; and again to another convention for similar 
purposes of the same States and New York, holden in Hart- 
ford on the 20th day of October, 1779, and the constant coun- 
sellor and the promoter of all movements looking to the In- 
dependence of America; of Esek Hopkins, the first Commo- 
dore of the American Navy ; of the intrepid General Wil- 
liam Barton, who captured Major-General Prescott on the 



51 

Island of Rhode Island; of General Nathan Miller; of Col- 
onel Christopher Greene, who commanded the First Battalion 
of Rhode Island in the invasion of Canada, and was taken 
prisoner at the storming of Quebec. He afterwards held com- 
mand at the battle of Red Bank on the Delaware River, was 
presented with a sword by Congress for his conduct in de- 
fense of the Fort, and was brutally murdered by British troops 
on the 14th of May, 1781, near Croton River, in New York, 
and his body cut and mangled in a shocking manner; of Col. 
Christopher Lippitt, who commaded a regiment in the cam- 
paign in New Jersey, and in the action at Princeton; of 
Col. Israel Angell, commander of a regiment of the First 
Battahon of Rhode Island ; and of Major Samuel Ward, Cap- 
tain Stephen Olney, Captain WilHam Tew, and Captain Wil- 
liam Humphrey. 

Of Capt. Olney it is related that he, with John Strange, 
■one of his soldiers, was the first to enter the redoubts at York- 
town, and with loud voice called out, " Captain Olney's com.- 
pany to form here," to make the enemy believe that there 
were other companies besides his, and immediately received 
several severe and dangerous bayonet wounds, and had a gun 
leveled at his head; but John Strange saved his life by shoot- 
ing down the man who was about to shoot Col. Olney. Of 
Col. Jabez Bowen, of John Brown, a powerful advocate of the 
first legislative act passed by any Colony looking to independ- 
ence, and ordering that in all legal documents " The Governor 
and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations " was to be substituted for the name 
of the King. Of Nicholas Brown, Arthur Fenner, Jr., and 
Dr. Isaac Senter, and of many others whose position was -per- 
haps less noticeable than those whom I have named, but 
whose sacrifices were often greater, and whose service to their 
country was not less important. 

The object of this Society being broadly patriotic and 
American, using both words in their highest sense and without 
any partisan or narrow limitations, it appeals to a wide con- 



52 

stituency, and is meant to be conducted upon democratic 
American lines, as distinguished from the Enghsh and mon- 
archical idea. Its membership is based on the service of its 
ancestors in the ranks, in the humblest service which they may- 
have been called upon to perform, or upon service in the 
higher line of oflficial duty, whether as a commissioned or a 
non-commissioned officer, and with the true republican and 
distinctively American principle it does not in any way recog- 
nize the claim of primogeniture, and it is hoped that it is des- 
tined to become a powerful factor in maintaining the exalted 
standard which was established by those from whom we should 
have received patriotic instincts and high aspirations. 

The Reports of the officers of the Society were then read 
in the following order: 

REPORT OF OLNEY ARNOLD, II., ESQ., TREASURER. 

RHODE ISLAND SOCIETY, SONS OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION, IN ACCOUNT WITH 
OLNEY ARNOLD, II., TREASURER. 

189I. 

June 19 Cash in Bank to credit of Society $8 30 

July II From Members in payment of fees, etc., per account with T. 

F. Tillinghast, ex-Secretary ■70 30 

1892. 
April I. From Members in payment of fees, etc., J per account with 

Amasa M . Eaton, Secretary 60 00- 

May 14. Ditto from Amasa M. Eaton, Secretary loi 00 

" 20. Payment from Member, fee, etc 3 00 

$242 60 
1891. 

June 23. To Providence Journal Co., rent of Hall for Annual Meeting, 

June 19, 1 891 $200 

July 30. To Bugbee, Thompson & Co., bill July 27 i 50 

Aug. 10. To Edw. Field, Registrar, for Charter i 25 

Oct. 24. To S. A. R. Year Book 3 00 

1892. 

Apr. 20. To Akerman Co., bill March 31, 1S92 . 7 65 

May 19. James Otis, Treas. Gen'l, Nat'l Society, two years dues to 

April 30, 1892 41 50 

May 19. To ditto for|35 certificates of membership 35 00 



53 

May 20. To Stationery, postage and express, per vouchers from Amasa 

M. Eaton, Secretary $14 75 

May 30. Cash in Bank to Credit of the Society 135 95 



$242 60 
1892. 

May 30. Cash in Bank to balance $135 95 

Examined and found correct. 

R. GRENVILLE BROWN, 

A uditing Committee. 

REPORT OF AMASA M. EATON, ESQ., SECRETARY. 
To the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the Avierican Rci'o- 
lution : 

In accordance with the provisions of Article Nine of our 
By-laws, the Secretary herewith presents his annual report. 

Owing to delay in the completion of our organization, and 
in the preparation, printing and binding of a suitable roll of 
members, there has been much delay in the collection of our 
annual dues. In accordance with Section Three of our By- 
laws, which provides that "Annual dues shall be paid to the 
Secretary on or before the 29th of May of each year," during 
the last year a suitable roll of members with printed alphabeti- 
cal pages, has been prepared and bound for the Secretary's 
use, and this year for the first time, these due bills have been 
sent out in advance as the By-law requires. The fees and 
taxes overdue have also been collected, as far as possible. The 
amount now due and unpaid by members is as follows: 

For certificates of membership, - _ . - $6 00 

" admission fees, - . - - - - -4 00 

" annual taxes due on or before May 29th, 1890, - - 12 00 

" " " " " " " " " 1891, - - - 26 00 

*• " " " *' " " " " 1892, - - 70 00 

$118 00 
As the result of experience the Secretary ventures the sug- 
gestion that the work of his successor will be materially light- 
ened if the members will send promptly to the Secretary the 
amounts they owe the Society. 

Notices having been sent twice to all members in arrears, 
the Secretary also suggests that in three months from now it 



54 

would be well to drop from our roll of membership all whose 
taxes or dues prior to this year then remain unpaid, in accord- 
ance with Section three of the By-laws, which provides "An- 
nual dues shall be paid to the Secretary on or before the 29th 
day of May in each year. The Secretary shall notify mem- 
bers three months in arrears, and non-payment of dues.in three 
months thereafter shall be regarded as terminating the mem- 
bership of such person, unless the member shall present a satis- 
factory excuse." 

The Board of Managers have memorialized the General 
Assembly to cause the Revolutionary muster rolls of Rhode 
Island, now in the hands of the Secretary of State in manu- 
script, to be indexed and printed. It is hoped the members 
present at this meeting will sign this memorial, a copy of which 
is upon the Secretary's desk for that purpose. 

Three members of our Society, Messrs. Stone, Humphrey 
and Eaton, were present at the impressive ceremonies in 
August last in Bennington, Vermont, to celebrate the com- 
pletion of the monument of the battle of Bennington. They 
desire to return thanks for the generous hospitality with which 
they were received and entertained as the guests of the State. 
As delegates from this Society, Messrs. Guild and Eaton 
attended the Annual Congress of the Sons of the American 
Revolution, held in New York April 30th last. The business 
meeting occupied the greater part of the day, was well at- 
tended, and much interest was manifested. It seemed like a 
return to Revolutionary days to meet Paul Revere, Jonathan 
Trumbull and many other lineal descendants of Revolutionary 
heroes. 

A committee of one member from each State was ap- 
pointed to confer with the Sons of the Revolution, with the 
object of effecting a union of the two Societies, and if the 
Society of Sons of the Revolution will meet us in a spirit of 
amity and conciliation, we may look for success. The un- 
happy difference arises from the fact that the New York 
Society, organized in 1883 (and hence seven years after the 



55 

California Society, the parent Society), arrogated to itself^ 
under Article V of its Constitution, the right and the power 
to organize auxiliary branches in other States, and subse- 
quently, under the attempted exercise of this self-conferred 
power, denied to citizens of New Jersey, in 1889, its approval 
of their action in organizing a Society in New Jersey, because, 
in the opinion of the Board of Managers of the New York 
Society, it was inexpedient and unnecessary to establish a 
Society in New Jersey, as members who lived in New Jersey 
would be able to attend meetings in New York or Pennsyl- 
vania with as much ease as members who lived in different 
parts of those last-named States — New York and Pennsylvania. 
In 1889 a Society was organized in Connecticut, and made 
application to the New York Society to be admitted to fellow- 
ship, which was refused, unless the Connecticut Society would 
agree to become an auxiliary branch of the New York Society. 
The result was the inauguration of the movement that has 
now resulted in the establishment of 25 State Societies, all 
united into one National Society, under the name of Sons of 
the American Revolution, with 3,503 members. 

The reports of the Acting Registrar-General and of the 
Historian-General, containing matter of remarkable interest and 
value, would alone furnish sufficient reason for the existence 
of our Society, as will be evident when they are distributed in 
print. The delegates to the Congress were the guests of the 
New York Society, and were given a lunch, and also a brilliant 
dinner at Delmonico's, presided over by Mr. Chauncey M. 
Depew. The speeches made by such orators as Mr. Depew, 
Ex-Senator Bayard, Charles A. Dana, Ex-Governor Robinson, 
General Porter, and others, were not only patriotic, but were 
admirably suited to the requirements of the occasion, and the 
Congress was by far the most successful and inspiring yet held 
in the history of our organization. 



56 

REPORT OF EDWARD FIELD, ESQ.,' REGISTRAR. 

To the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American 
Revolution : 

The By-laws of this Society make it the duty of the Regis- 
trar "to receive all applications and proofs of membership 
from the Secretary after they have been passed upon by the 
Board of Managers, and make a record of the same in a book 
of forms prepared for that purpose, to have the custody of all 
the historical, geographical and genealogical papers, books, 
manuscripts and relics of which the Society may become pos- 
sessed, and make a report in writing at each annual meeting; 
from the fact that this is the first report of the Registrar, it 
would appear that this officer had not followed the laws pre- 
scribed, but when the reason for this is considered, the failure 
will be more readily excused. 

With the organization of a Society like this comes a multi- 
tude of detail which is necessarily imposed upon the officers, 
systems must be perfected and rules and regulations prescribed 
by the parent Society complied with, delays of various kinds 
have occurred, and it was not until the present year that the 
completed organization of the Rhode Island Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution was attained. This was largely 
due to the failure of members to file the required evidence of 
qualification for membership in this office. 

The Society at this date numbers 98 members. 
. Since the organization of the Society, death has removed 
two members, Hon. William W. Hoppin and James H. Eld- 
redge, M. D., and in this connection, I would suggest, that 
the By-laws of the Society be so amended as to provide for the 
appointment of a committee whose duty it shall be to prepare 
a memorial of deceased members, for preservation in our 
archives. This custom is followed by several of the State So- 
cieties. 

The ancestors from whom membership in this Society is 
derived served their country in the following capacities : 



57 



On Committee of Safety, .... 


4 


" " to furnish munitions of war, 


I 


" " of correspondence. 


2 


*' ** of inspection, 


2 


" " to exchange prisoners, 


2 


** " on recruits. 


2 


*' " on emergency. 


2 


" " to provide for the famiHes of soldiers, 


I 


** " to provide bounties. 


I 


Member of State Convention, 


2 


" Council of War, .... 


4 


*' " General Assembly, 


4 


" " Electoral College that elected Washington 




President, .... 


2 


As Judges, ..... 


5 


" Commissioners of various kinds. 


4 


'' Governors, ..... 


4 


" Deputies, ..... 


5 


" Delegates to Congress, 


2 


*' Deputy Governor, .... 


I 


" Colonels, ..... 


ID 


" Lieut. -Colonels, ..... 


2 


*' Captains, , . . . . 


29 


*' Lieutenants, ..... 


16 


*' Sergeants, ..... 


6 


" Corporals, , . . . . 


3 


'* Ensigns, ./ . 
** Seamen, . . 


. 8 


4 


^' Majors, ..... 


5 


*' Chief Commander, .... 


I 


*' Brigadier-Generals, .... 


2 


" Naval Officers, ..... 


4 


■" Brigadier, ..... 


I 


" Drummer, ... 


I 


■" Fifer, ...... 


I 


-' Enlisting Officers, .... 


4 



58 

As Quartermaster, .... i 

" Commissary, . . . . .1 

i . I 

I 
I 
26 
I 
ows: 
I 



" Adjutant, . . . i . 

" Muster Master, .... 

" Major-General, .... 

" Privates, . . . , . 

" Surgeon, ..... 

As members of expeditions and special service as fol 
Of the Boston Tea Party, 
" " Gaspee Party, . . . . I 

" " party that captured Gen. Prescott, . . 2 

" " Expedition under the command of Benedict 

Arnold to Canada, ... 3 

As a guard at the Beacon erected in Scituate, R. I., to 
alarm the country, i, and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

The excess in the number of positions held by ancestors 
over the number of members is accounted for in the fact, that 
credit is given each ancestor for the different positions in which 
service was rendered, as shown by the member's application. 
The average age of these ancestors at the time of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, was 30.10 years. 

Of this total service, 26.59 P^^ cent, of it was rendered in 
ofificial positions other than military, while 73.41 per cent, was 
for the performance of military duty; of this 73.41 per cent, 
of military service only 30.28 per cent, served as private 
soldiers, a fact which admits of an interesting study. 

The Society in its brief season of existence, has performed 
a service of inestimable value to Rhode Island history in se- 
curing for permanent record much historical information, which, 
but a few months ago, was scattered and mostly inaccessible. 
This has all been committed to writing and signed by the per- 
sons giving such information, with the reference to the author- 
ity for the statement. 

Some of the duties imposed upon the Registrar by the laws 
of the Society have not required much attention. No "manu- 



59 

scripts, relics or documents" have been received; one volume, 
however, the "Year Book" of the Connecticut Society, for 
1 89 1, has been received and duly acknowledged; this consti- 
tutes the sole property of the Society of which the Registrar 
is custodian, other than his own records. The Registrar is 
constantly in receipt of letters from different parts of the coun- 
try asking for information regarding the service of Rhode 
Island soldiers in the Revolution ; while it is the desire of the 
Registrar to assist all who wish to ascertain these facts of 
Revolutionary history, yet to answer these letters properly is 
an impossibility, owing to the imperfect arrangement of the 
Records of the State for that period. 

In order to ascertain any particular information regarding 
a soldier it is necessary to search through the volumes of 
muster rolls and regimental and company abstracts in the 
archives of the State until such soldier's name is found; this 
involves many hours of search which is often fruitless. This 
state of affairs should not exist in a State whose part in the 
Revolutionary struggle was such an important one. Our neigh- 
boring States, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, have a most perfect system of indexes of the Revolution- 
ary papers; New Hampshire and Connecticut have printed 
lists of her patriotic sons; and the State of Massachusetts, not 
satisfied with the system of indexing in use for many years, 
is at present engaged in reindexing these records similar to 
that with which the records of the soldiers of the Civil War 
are indexed in this State. These facts I brought to the atten- 
tion of the Board of Managers in March last, and a committee 
was appointed consisting of the Registrar, Vice-President and 
Secretary, to present a memorial to the General Assembly, 
asking that these records of Rhode Island soldiers be in- 
dexed and printed. It is hoped that the Legislature will favor- 
ably consider this proposition. When this work is accom- 
plished, much of the Revolutionary history of the State now 
inaccessible will be brought to light. I know of no other 
State where the records of the Revolution are so scattered as 



6o 

they are in this State ; besides the volumes in the office of the 
Secretary of State there are several volumes of muster rolls in 
the archives of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the 
City of Providence possesses a mass of documents, relating to 
this period, of great value; with regard to the latter, I am 
pleased to say that the Record Commissioners are at present 
engaged in arranging and classifying them, so that their con- 
tents may be made useful. 

At the annual meeting of the Society in May last a com- 
mittee was appointed " to look over the field and ascertain 
where a suitable memorial of the Revolution should be erected 
in Rhode Island." The Registrar was subsequently made a 
member of this committee, a preliminary report was made re- 
garding the matter to the Board of Managers in April last, and, 
among other sites mentioned. Fort Independence, at Field's 
Point, was favorably regarded. The Registrar was appointed a 
committee to inquire into this matter and ascertain such facts 
as would warrant the Board in giving it further consideration, 
and for the purpose of bringing this subject to the attention 
of the Society, for any decided action relative to the matter 
must be by the Society, I desire to briefly state certain facts in 
this connection. Fort Independence, as it is now called, was 
erected early in the Revolutionary struggle when it was ex- 
pected that an attack would be made on the town at any 
moment. The conditions and circumstances under which it 
was erected will be found fully set forth in a paper read by 
me before the Rhode Island Historical Society on January, 
26, 1886, and is contained in Vol. V, No. 3, of the Narragan- 
sett Historical Register. 

This earthwork is in a fair state of preservation, consider- 
ing the years that it has remained uncared for, and occupies a 
commanding position overlooking the city and harbor, one hun- 
dred and twenty-five feet above high-water mark. The parade 
inside of the inclosure is about one hundred feet by thirty feet, 
and would be ample in size on which to erect a shaft of appro- 
priate design. The property belonged to the estate of the 



6i 

late Amos D. Smith, and stands on the books of the Assessors 
of Taxes in the name of A. D. Smith, two-thirds, and Amy 
A. Smith, one-third. If a title to this spot could be acquired, 
it seems reasonable to believe that a sufficient sum could be 
obtained by subscription, or otherwise, to erect an appropriate 
memorial, and provide for the perpetual care of the earth- 
works and thus preserve for posterity a relic of the struggle 
which resulted in American Independence, though no hostile 
cannon reverberated from its height, yet it is as valuable a relic 
of this crisis in American History as though human blood had 
once stained the grass around it. 

In March, 1891, the Registrar and William E. Foster, 
Esq.,* were appointed a committee on the part of the Board of 
Managers to publish a volume for the Society which should 
include the Charter, Constitution and By-Laws, list of the 
officers and members, together with an account of the First 
Anniversary Dinner, held February 17, 1891, in commemo- 
ration of the sailing of the First American fleet under the 
command of Commodore Esek Hopkins of Rhode Island. 
The work was at once commenced, and it was anticipated that 
the volume would be issued within a reasonable time. In pre- 
paring the list of members together with the name of the an- 
cestor from whom membership in the Society was derived, with 
a short account of his service in establishing American Inde- 
pendence, it was found that but few who had joined the 
Society as charter members had filed any application in which 
the ancestor's service was given. Notices were then sent to 
these members to furnish such applications. Some delay was 
caused by this, and at the same time it was found that the 
Society had no approved standing in the National Society 
other than that it had been regularly organized, and the work 
was suspended until the Society should be on an equal footing 
with the other societies in the country. Considerable corres- 
pondence was had with the National officers by our officers in 
this respect. After a time most of the applications were re- 

* June II, 1892, Mr. Foster resigned as a member of this committee. 



62 

ceived. This was not on account of neglect, but more on 
account of the difficulty which the members experienced in 
getting at the facts of their ancestor's service; in many cases it 
had been a family tradition, but where to find the evidence to 
confirm this was a difficult problem. I am glad to state, how- 
ever, that all of these difficulties have been adjusted, and that 
the work is now ready for the press, although I regret to state 
that thirty out of the total membership of ninety-eight have 
yet failed to file their applications. 

The reports of these officers were received and ordered 
placed on file. At the conclusion of the Registrar's report, 
President Woods called upon Col. John C. Wyman, who 
spoke in his characteristic pleasant vein. 

The annual historical paper was read by William E. Foster, 
Esq., Historian of the Society, which was as follows: 

THE REVOLUTIONARY ACHIEVEMENTS OF RHODE ISLAND 
MEN OUTSIDE OF RHODE ISLAND. 
It is fitting that steps should be taken to mark the historic 
spots within the boundaries of our own State. By such me- 
morials not only will the heroic deeds which they commemo- 
rate be recalled to the minds of those of us who are familiar 
with the localities, but the visitor from another State will in 
like manner find something appealing to his own interest and 
adding to his information. In the Revolutionary actions occur- 
ring on Rhode Island soil, it was sometimes Rhode Island men 
alone who acted, as in the affair of the Gaspec; at other 
times, Rhode Island men in conjunction with others, as in 
the battle of Rhode Island in 1778, called by Lafayette " the 
best-fought action of the war." But the reciprocity of inter- 
est which is thus indicated has another side to it, for if a Mas- 
sachusetts man or a New Hampshire man can find in the 
earthworks at Quaker Hill and Butts Hill, reminders of 
the valor of men from these colonies respectively, there 
are places outside of this State equally suggestive to a 
Rhode Island man to-day. In which direction, indeed, shall 



63 

one go, not to find such reminders? From Georgia north- 
ward, through the entire length of the thirteen Colonies 
with but few exceptions — and including the Province of Quebec 
— the traveller finds the memory of Rhode Island men's 
achievements inseparably associated with historic localities. 
The shores of Pointe-aux-Trembles, along the St. Lawrence, 
recall the sufferings and the bravery of Rhode Island soldiers 
under Simeon Thayer and Christopher Greene in 1/75^ In 
Massachusetts the earthworks and trenches at Prospect Hill 
and Roxbury recall the heroic exertions of Nathanael Greene, 
Christopher Greene, and James M. Varnum, in 1775^. In 
New York, one may still see, near the upper extremity of 
Manhattan Island, the site of Fort Washington, opposite 
which, in 1776, a fearless Rhode Islander, Silas Talbot, boldly 
undertook to explode a British ship of 64 guns at the risk of 
what was apparently certain death"^. In New Jersey, a monu- 
ment erected over fifty years after the event, at Red Bank, 
on the Lower Delaware, commemorates — so reads the inscrip- 
tion — "the patriotism and gallantry of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Christopher Greene, who, with 400 men, conquered the Hes- 
sian army of 2,000 troops^". These heroic four hundred men 
in 1777 were two Rhode Island regiments. In Pennsylvania, 
Rhode Island is equally well represented in the sufferings and 
heroism associated with the name of Valley Forge, in 1778. 
Two of her bravest officers — Waterman and Jennings — laid 
down their lives there ; while in the encampment it was Gen. 
Varnum's brigade which occupied the position of honor and 
danger, guarding the bridge^. In Virginia, the decisive 
event of Yorktown in 1781 is indelibly associated with the 

(i) Capt. Simeon Thayer's Journal, printed in the "Collections of the 
Rhode Island Historical Society," v. 6, p. 1-45. 

(2) Cowell's "Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island," p. 19; Greene's " Life of Na- 
thanael Greene," v. i, p. 87-99. 

(3) Tuckerman's "Life of Silas Talbot," p. 25-32. 

(4) The epitaph is printed in Lossing's " Pictorial field-book of the Revolu- 
tion," V. 2, p. 89. 

(5) Map at p. 196 of V. 5 of Sparks's " Writings of Washington." 



64 

heroism of Captain Stephen Olney^. In North Carolina, at 
Guilford Court House^, in 1781, and in South Carolina, at 
Eutaw Springs^, in the same year, the military strategy of Gen. 
Nathanael Greene was strikingly exemplified ; while in Georgia 
two localities not far from Savannah will forever possess an 
interest for Rhode Island men — the one as the place of Gen. 
Greene's death, in 1786, and the other as the locality of his 
burial^. 

Nor is the interest to which we have referred confined to 
the land and to military operations solely. On the sea, when 
passing Cape Henry, one remembers that it was there that 
Capt. John B. Hopkins in 1779 captured a fleet of seven 
vessels from the British^, while the Bahamas recall the daring 
exploits of Esek Hopkins in 1776^, and Lieut. Trevett in 
1778^. The deeds of men who wrought in establishing our 
liberties in still other fields, are not uncommemorated, more- 
over. The visitor from Rhode Island when in Philadelphia 
has pointed out to him Independence Hall^, in which Stephen 
Hopkins and William Ellery, acting for the colony of Rhode 
Island, affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, in 1776. Somewhere near it stands, or stood, the house 
in which during the sessions of the First Continental Congress, 
in 1774, the far-seeing political insight of Stephen Hopkins 
served to enlighten others less sagacious than himself, as to the 
nature of the struggle which was before them. It was there 
that in the hearing of Paul Revere a few months before the 
hostilities at Lexington and Concord, he declared: " Powder 





(i) Report of Yorktown monument commission. Washington, 


1883. 




(2) Greene's " 


Life of Nathanael Greene 


," V. 3, p. 193 


-202. 






(3) rbid., 






V. 3, p. 391 


-405- 






(4) Ibid., 






V. 3. P- 533- 


-35. 






(5) Cooper's ' 


' History of the Navy,' 


' V. 


I, p. 177-78. 








(6) Ibid., 




V. 


I, p. 104-7. 








(7) Ibid, 




V. 


I, p. 156-57; 


Arnold 


's ' ' Rhode Is- 


land," V. 2, p. 413 














(8) Etting's " 


' Historical account of 


the old State House of 


Pennsyivania," 


P- 


105. 













65 

and ball will decide this question. The gun and the bayonet 
alone will finish the contest in which we are engaged,"^ words 
which must have been ringing in Paul Revere's ears as he 
spurred his horse through one after another " Middlesex vil- 
lage and farm" on that eventful April night in 1775. In still 
another part of Philadelphia one may see the site of the 
burial ground in which was laid all that was mortal of Samuel 
Ward of Rhode Island, who was the only member of the 
Second Continental Congress to die during its sessions, and 
who but for his untimely death in March, 1776,^ would have 
placed his signature with that of Hopkins, on the Declaration 
of Independence a few months later. 

But it is not everywhere that one finds the locality so satis- 
factorily designated as that marked by the monument at Red 
Bank, New Jersey, already mentioned. What would not one 
give to know the exact spot on another battlefield in the same 
State, — that of Princeton, in 1777, — where Washington, at 
the close of the engagement, took by the hand a Rhode Is- 
land commander, — Col. Daniel Hitchcock, — and, in the pres- 
ence of the Army, desired him to convey his personal thanks 
to his men?^ Or, to identify the exact localities, in every in- 
stance, along the brilliant charge of Capt. Simeon Thayer at 
Quebec, in 1775 ? 

Could it be more vividly recounted than in his own lang- 
uage, as entered in his journal for December 30? He writes: 
" We were to receive the signal by the firing of three sky- 
rockets, to attack, but not observing them soon eno', Capt. 
Dearborn's company, on acct. of being Quartered over 
Charles' river, [St. Charles River], and the tide being high, 
did not come up, and march'd on without him, imagining he 
would soon overtake us. They fir'd briskly upon us as we 

(i) Quoted in Stone's "John Howland," p. 199, Compare Goss's " Life of 
Col. Paul Revere," V. i, p. 166; Frothingham's "Joseph Warren," p. 388. 

(2) Gammell's "Life of Samuel Ward," p. 349-50. In i860 his remains 
were removed to Newport, R. I. 

(3) Arnold's "Rhode Island," v. 2, p. 394-95- 



66 

pass'd the street for the space of half a mile, killing and 
wounding numbers of our men, of whom was Capt. Hubbard, 
who died shortly after, in the hospital of Quebec. The" 
front having got lost by a prodigious snowstorm, I undertook 
to pilot them, having measur'd the works before, and knowing 
the place. But coming to the Barrier, two field-pieces played 
briskly on us, that were placed there. But on their drawing 
them back to re-charge, Capt. Morgan and myself Quickly ad- 
vanced through the Ports, seized them with 60 men rank and 
file, which was their main guard, and made Prisoners."^ How 
plainly one can see it all, — the winter night, the dense dark- 
ness, the straining of their eager eyes through the murky air 
for the sky-rockets which failed to ascend in season, the thick 
descending snow in which they lost their way, though within 
the city lines, the desperate charge, and the capture. 

On the battlefield of Gettysburg the erection of monument 
after monument — by both Federal and Confederate survivors — 
is gradually contributing to make the place one on which the 
historian may identify the several localities where the fortunes 
of the battle turned, and where the high-water mark of heroic 
effort may be fittingly commemorated. What would not the 
historical student give to see a similar treatment of the battle- 
field of Yorktown in the near future ! When that time shall 
come, such commemoration should not fail to include the 
locality associated with Capt. Stephen Olney's charge, which 
was the critical point of the engagement. How like the inci- 
dent, as narrated by a survivor, is to some of those related in 
Plutarch. "When the column began its march towards the 
redoubts, it was slow, silent, and solemn." "The redoubts 
were well manned, and the palisades thick." In the struggle 
which ensued Olney found himself standing, indeed, inside the 
enemy's lines, but with several different bayonet stabs in dif- 
ferent portions of his body, one of which placed him in the 
most painful and embarrassing situation in which a man can be 
imagined as standing, and yet continuing to live. In this ex- 

(i) "Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society," v. 6, p. 28. 



67 

treme moment, with death a matter of momentary expectation, 
he acted as if only in the most common and advantageous sit- 
uation. His voice was heard above the din and confusion — 
* ' Captain Olney's Company, — form here ! "^ His men with des- 
perate determination pushed in after him. Almost every 
movement was marked with blood, and with the life of an 
opponent ; and in a remarkably short time the redoubt had 
surrendered to them. " The first sword," says Arnold, " that 
flashed in triumph above the captured heights of Yorktown was 
a Rhode Island sword. "^ 

It is such deeds as these which societies like ours can best 
use their efforts to assist in suitably identifying, and in such 
efforts all State societies have a common interest. 

REVOLUTIONARY ENGAGEMENTS OUTSIDE OF RHODE ISLAND 
IN WHICH RHODE ISLAND MEN WERE PRESENT. 

1775, Dec. 30-31. Quebec. 

1776, March 3. Naval battle at New Providence, Bahama 

Islands. 
' ' Aug. Explosion of British ship Asm, opposite 

Fort Washington, New York. 
" Aug. 27-28. Battle of Long Island, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
" Sept. 14, 15, 16. " " Harlem, N, Y. 
" Dec. 26. " " Trenton, N.J. 

1777, Jan. 3. " " Princeton, N. J. 
" Sept. II. " " Brandy wine. Pa. 
" Oct. 4. " " Germantown, Pa. 

22. " " Red Bank, N.J. 
" Nov. 10-15. '* '• Province Island, Pa. 

1 Cowell's "Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island," p. 237; Mrs. Catherine R. 
Williams's " Biography of revolutionary heroes," p. 277. 

2 "Captain Stephen Olney, who was the first to mount the parapet and form 
his company in Hamilton's redoubt on the 14th." — (Robert C. Winthrop's Centen- 
nial oration at Yorktown, October 19, 1881. Winthrop's "Addresses and 
speeches," 4th series, p 320.) Arnold's "Rhode Island," v. 2, p. 477. Alex- 
ander Hamilton's "Works," v. i, p. 271. 



68 

177^, Feb. Naval battle at New Providence, Baha- 
ma Islands. 

" June 28. Battle of Monmouth, N. J. 

1779, April. Naval battle off Cape Henry, Va. 

1780, June 23. Battle of Springfield, N.J. 

1781, March 15. " " Guilford Court House, N. C. 

April 25. '' " Hobkirk's Hill, S. C. 

May 14. '' " Point's Bridge, N. Y. 

June 17. " " Ninety-Six, S. C. 

Sept. 8. " " Eutaw Springs, S. C. 

Oct. 14,15,16. " " Yorktown, Va. 

Rev. Frederick Denison, Poet of the Society, then read 
the following: 

THE PROVIDENCE TEA PARTY OF MARCH 2, 1775. 

A BALLAD. 

No lightest wave breaks on the beach 

But leaves its perturbation; 
No beat of blood for brotherhood 

But helps uplift a nation. 

The patriot town of Providence, 

Of deeds may boast a number; 
Her tea-affair, on Market Square, 

We summon from its slumber. 

Nor ought, in these serener days. 

The strife to be forgotten 
By men of trade and plans deep laid 

For working wool and cotton. 

We need some measures of relief 

From study, scheme and trading. 
Some note of song to cheer along 

'Mid work and worry wading. 

King George, soul-set on revenue 

To yield him bread and honey, 
Issued decree for taxing tea 

To win the needful money. 



69 

It was but three-pence on a pound; 

But that was not the grievance, 
It was his claim to tax by name, 

A serious malfeasance. 

In hope, if it were possible. 

To check the usurpation, 
The colonists clinched firm their fists 

To fight for reformation. 

They held their freedom as their life, 
Sworn 'gainst unjust taxation; 

Without their votes, not down their throats 
Went any king's potation. 

Throughout the town fast flew hot words 

About the greedy Lion, 
With what fit acts to meet the tax, 

Or arguments, or iron? 

They fixed upon a blazing scheme 
To give their thoughts full flaming; 

The use of fire met prompt desire, 
It only needed naming. 

When struck the chosen hour, was heard 

The chime of convocation. 
The bells deep tolled, and town-wide rolled 

The tea-tax condemnation. 

Appointment made at five o'clock. 
The town crier, hale and hearty, 

And unappalled, the people called 
To swell the big tea party. 

From Stamper street to India Point 

The citizens came streaming, 
Antipathy to tyranny 

From every visage beaming. 

The merchants brought their chests of tea, 
The women brought their caddies, 

And on the square was held the fair 
By plucky dames and daddies. 

They brought out barrels, boxes, logs, 
Borne on their sturdy shoulders, 

A proof of zeal for public weal 
Amazing to beholders. 



The students flocked from College Hill, 

The sailors from the shipping, 
Though most that they achieved that day 

Was at the toddy dipping. 

Men kindled quick a rousing fire 
At which the children wondered; 

Then merrily they threw on tea, 
Of pounds a round three hundred. 

From high and burning purposes 

The air was heavy freighted, 
With odors strong of old Souchong 

To Freedom immolated. 

They greatly wished King George were there 

To test his taxing tethers; 
They'd fit him out with a surtout 

Right warm, of tar and feathers. 

They styled him forger insolent 
Of handcuffs, chains and shackles, 

Who sure would find another mind. 
When drawn o'er freemen's hackles. 

They certified, as was the truth. 

They always had been loyal. 
But now, as free, they'd drink no tea, 

Save native pennyroyal. 

Here were the gritty men who smote 

The prowling English cutter, 
That daring stroke on royal oak 

That made the Lion mutter. 

That storm of powder, ball and flame 

That left the Gaspee burning, 
The evidence of brave intents, 

The tyrant's edicts spurning. 

The crowd, mayhap, had Santa Cruz 

Or nip of good Madeira; 
Whatever strains were in their veins 

Their heads were clear of error. 

All bravely stood as Englishmen 

Upon old Magna Charta, 
In calms or fights, the inborn rights 

Of men they could not barter. 



71 

They much preferred the native tea 

That Roger Williams planted, 
So all the throng loud raised the song 

And freedom full they chanted. 

The women vowed they'd sooner drink 

The meanest wildwood bitters 
Than humor George who aimed to forge 

His despicable fetters. 

Some thought they saw the very shades 

Of early planters rising, 
In patriot love, to full approve 

This new evangelizing. 

The smoke of this new sacrifice 

Delighted all the people; 
It curved around and fitly crowned 

The new-built Baptist steeple. 

In Boston, tea was wrathful plunged 
Where choked the demon legion; 

But here men free consigned the tea 
To Pluto's heated region. 

They threw on tar, with Lord North's speech. 

And all the Tory papers; 
And everything that praised the King 

Was doomed as funeral tapers. 

The blaze rose high, the shouts went round. 

The tea was steeped in ashes; 
While doors and signs, with tea's designs. 

Were smeared with lamp-black splashes. 

In fancy now we see the light 

Reflected from all faces; 
Would some had sketched, and art had etched 

The scene in all its traces. 

No " tempest in a tea-pot " that. 

But patriotic lightning 
That flashed a ray of coming day, 

A new horizon brightening. 

Would that our honored Board of Trade 

Might raise or bronze or granite 
To keep aflame that deed of fame. 

For History's breath to fan it. 



72 

No picture truer to the mark 

Of old Rhode Island spirit, 
To have her right, or have a fight 

To vindicate her merit. 

Prophetic of events to be 

So shortly in attendance, 
One patriot stout a flag flung out 

And styled it Independence. 

In what few weeks that flag arose 

Above the British symbol, 
And-on the shore the cannon's roar 

Caused tyranny to tremble. 

The sun had set; so sank the crown 

Of England's western glory; 
But Stars broke forth to light the earth 

And win renown in story. 

Such is the pulse of Freedom in 

Our human breasts expanding; 
To break the gyves, not vain it strives, 

The will of God commanding. 

Such were the true teetotalers 

Who gave to George their pledges. 

And with their words drew out their swords 
Of sharp and tempered edges. 

If you dig down on Market Square, 
No doubt you'd find the embers 

Of that big fire — tea's funeral pyre — 
As History remembers. 

So, with the virtues of our sires 

May we our lives embellish; 
They drank the tea of Liberty 

And left with us the relish. 

Out of the ashes of the old, 

Effete, monarchic measures. 
See Freedom rise, in sacred guise. 

To spread world-wide her treasures. 



73 

At the conclusion of these exercises Chairman Denison, of 
the committee appointed, at the last annual meeting, to in- 
quire into the matter of a memorial of the Revolution, pre- 
sented the following report. 

REPORT BY COMMITTEE. 

Mr. President, and Members of the Rhode Island Society of the 
Sons of the A merican Revolution : 
Your Committee, appointed June 19, 1891, "to look over 
the field and report upon the subject of erecting some memo- 
rial or monument of the American Revolution, in this State," 
would respectfully report that, as the matter committed to us 
is only preliminary and initiative, we can only present certain 
facts and certain suggestions. 

I. Of facts we present the following: 

[i.] While our Sister States around us have their me- 
morials and monuments of the Revolution, Rhode Island, as 
a State, thus far has none. 

[2.] Since Rhode Island nobly acted her full part in 
the Revolution, she owes it to herself and to our republic to 
have within her borders some memorial or memorials of the 
old heroic struggle. 

[3.] Already the Society of the Daughters of the Rev- 
olution has taken steps to secure and preserve the Vernon 
House and grounds in Newport, once the headquarters of 
Count Rochambeau. 

[4.] On the field of this State we find the following his- 
toric spots : 

[a.] Gaspee Point, where well might be erected a 
beacon, since here began the tragedy of the Revolution in our 
State and in our country, June lO, 1772. 

[b.] Market Square, Providence, where 300 pounds 
of tea were burned, March 2, 1775. 

[c] The site of Liberty Tree on Olney street, where 
the Sons of Liberty held their meetings. 



74 

[d.] The site of the Signal Fire, on the summit of 
Prospect Hill. 

[e.] Fox Point, where in 1775 was erected a battery 
of six guns. 

[f.] Fort Independence, on Field's Point, erected 
in 1775, and still preserved in its outline. 

[g.] University Hall, of Brown University, used as 
barracks and a hospital. 

[h.] The French Camp in Providence, a part of 
which still remains with the tent pits. 

[i.] The spot on Rhode Island where Col. Barton 
captured Gen. Prescott. 

[j.] The field on which was fought the battle of 
Rhode Island in 1778. 

II. Of suggestions we present the following: 

[i.] That for a memorial spot, the most available at 
present is Fort Independence, on Field's Point. 

[2.] In regard to Gaspee Point, it might well bear a 
light or beacon, erected by the United States Government. 

[3.] In regard to a general monument, it would be happy 
if a memorial arch could be thrown over the main avenue to 
the contemplated Union Railroad depot in Providence. 

[4.] That a permanent committee be chosen, to have 
charge of the general matter of memorials, to report to the 
Society annually. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Frederic Denison, 
Stephen Brownell, 
r. h. i. goddard, 
William E. Foster, 
E. Benj. Andrews, 
Edward Field, 
Alfred Stone, 

Committee. 



75 

In accordance with the suggestions contained in this report, 
the President was authorized to appoint a committee of five 
persons to serve as a permanent committee ; subsequently the 
President appointed the following named gentlemen : 

Rev. Frederic Denison, 
Alfred Stone, 
William E. Foster, 
Edward Field, 
William G. Nightingale. 

At 5.30 o'clock p. M., the meeting adjourned. 




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